Wildfire
by Angels of Twilight
Summary: Bella Swan is no ordinary immortal. When Aro discovers her family's powers, he decides to keep them prisoner. When the Cullens make a less than voluntary trip to Volterra, what they find will be something they never expected. especially for Edward. A/U OOC Rated M for rape, language, and sexual scenes. Not for the faint of heart in places marked with *asterisks*.
1. Prologue

_Summary: Bella Swan is no ordinary immortal. When Aro discovers her family's powers, he decides to keep them prisoner. When the Cullens make a less than voluntary trip to Volterra, what they find will be something they never could have expected._

_*Rated M for Language, Rape, and Sexual Scenes. You have been warned . . . _:) _*_

_**Wildfire**_

_Prologue_

In a world where vampires and werewolves exist in the shadows, humans can believe they rule all. Humans _do_ believe this, because, no matter what they see, if they don't want to believe their eyes, then whatever it was doesn't exist. It just doesn't. What exists only does so because humans say they do. Vampires and werewolves only exist in books and movies, not in real life. Anything that looks like it could be an attack by either one is considered only an animal attack.

I've been in the hands of vampires for the past six years, along with my mother and father, and some of my family have werewolf blood. I know they exist, even if humans will refuse their existence until the day their world ends. I know this, not just because of the . . . _relationships_ I have with each species, but because of the fact that I myself am an immortal being, one whose existence has also been denied by the human race.

I was careless when I was captured, and I've been paying the price ever since. My parents were only caught because they tried to save me. They've been sitting in the dungeons, being starved and tortured to death since the day they joined me in Volterra's castle. Why are they still there if they're dead? Because they're not. What we are, our species of immortal, cannot die from illness, starvation, or injury. An immediately fatal wound, like decapitation or something along that line, would be their only means of escape. Any other injury will heal with time, maybe not as fast as a vampire or werewolf's injury, but still much faster than a human's. And the pain? Everything still hurts, which is why it's so effective at getting me to do what they want in return for leaving my parents alone until I refuse again. Sometimes they think it's nice to give me a reminder of what will happen if I say no, but that's not very often, thankfully.

By now, you're probably thinking, "Well, if they're in the dungeons, then where are you?" You would be correct if you assumed I wasn't down there with them, and if you guessed I was now the pet to a castle full of sadistic, human-drinking vampires, you would also be correct.

Lucky me, huh?


	2. Chapter 1 Captured

_Chapter 1: Captured_

_6 Years Ago_

The trees blurred past me as I ran as fast as I could, darting over and under the overgrown brush of the forest in northern Italy. Charlie and Renee were somewhere behind me, but I didn't think about that much. The feeling of the wind in my face and the scenery flowing around me like a comfort blanket was the only thing on my mind. When I wasn't outside, that was the only place I wanted to be. Charlie said it was in our nature, with what we were, to enjoy nature more than civilized society.

We were actually on a month-long vacation, travelling across Europe, and I couldn't think of a time when I was happier than I had been the past week, running across the continent and seeing the actual world, instead of what humans have made it. What they considered the world consisted of all of their cities, made of cement and steel and other things they only had because they took them from nature. What I was seeing, the trees, grass, flowers, sky . . . _that_ was what makes the world as I saw it, not what humans put into the world. The comforts of a home were not lost on me, but I was just as happy outside in what felt like my more natural form as I was inside in my human form. I was probably happier outside, if I thought about it.

Dad let me choose where we would spend our vacation this year, and neither he nor my mom tried to change my mind when I told them I wanted to travel. I could see my mom itching to get away just as much as I was, so I knew this would be good for all of us. Charlie took his vacation time from his job as Police Chief of a tiny not-town called Forks in Washington State, and mom was a freelance photojournalist, so she was on vacation whenever she didn't have a story. When she found out what I wanted, she made sure she didn't have one, Especially since the last week happened to land on my eighteenth birthday.

_Bella, slow down, dear,_ my mom thought to me. I mentally sighed and she giggled. I could see my dad rolling his eyes at my response.

I sat by a nearby tree to wait for them to catch up, and looked straight above me at the immense canopy. Birds, snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, any kind of tree climbing animal seemed to live in the enormous holm oak tree next to me. The size of the black-barked tree reminded me of the reason I loved nature so much, how everything we could every possibly need was provided for us by the Mother. It was a shame how people thought their existence was so much more important, and in thinking so, determined that destroying the homes of those who existed on this planet first was justified since it was in the name of human comfort.

I sat there staring up at the interactions of the animals above my head until a pair of foxes appeared through the underbrush. Their fur was a deep blood red with swirling lighter and darker shades covering their small bodies. My parents walked over and sat down next to me, and looked up at what had caught my attention so strongly. We watched together for a few more moments before my dad brushed my side with his tail to get my attention.

_We're getting closer to a small human town, the one with the vampire castle. Volterra, or something. It's only a few miles in our current direction, so we need to decide what we want to do. Sight-see, or investigate?_ Charlie asked, looking between me and my mom. I looked at her too, and shrugged my red furry shoulders.

_Are you wanting to shop?_ I asked. Anything she bought so far we had sent back home. We couldn't really carry it around with us. Seeing three red foxes running around with backpacks on might stretch the limits of what people are willing to believe was just a trick of the light.

_Sure, if you don't mind. You can check out the area around the castle while you wait_, my mom said, knowing I wouldn't be too inclined to join her. Shopping was not my forte, and mom had finally accepted that not too long ago. We both looked at dad, and he nodded.

_I guess I'll join your mother, make sure she doesn't buy us out of house and home_, he teased, looking at mom. She raised a paw to whack at him, and he jumped back, a wheezing laugh coming from his throat. She threw her ears back and turned her head up and away in indignation. Dad cautiously walked over and liked her face in apology. She stayed still for a moment before giving in and licking him back.

_Okay, okay_, I said, laying down and covering my eyes with my paws. _Can we get going now?_ They laughed at me, walking over and licking my face at the same time. I jumped over them and ran, hearing them start after me. I slowed down and we ran together to the edge of the forest, pausing to let my mom and dad shift back into human form.

It was always amazing to watch someone shift, rather than just feel it happen to yourself. Mom's coat retracted back into her skin as her bones fluidly flexed back into the structure she needed for human form. Her dark brown hair fell in waves down to the middle of her shoulder blades, while what was once her fur sprouted again to take the form of the clothing she had been wearing when she was last in human form. She immediately hid the tattoos that covered her skin, the swirls and twists that showed as different shades of red in our fur, and smiled down at me. I looked at her left collarbone, imagining the tattooed lines that came together to form a dove about the size of a half-dollar in that exact spot. My dad had a shield-like mark on his bicep, and a fox's head was on the side of my thigh. I also had a small heart on the right side of my neck. I loved the marks that came with being what we were, and hated having to cover them up whenever I wanted to go somewhere in human form. I usually left and that would be covered by my clothes, and some random ones here and there to make myself feel better.

My mom looked to only be in her mid-thirties, but she was really in her late fifties. She refused to tell me her exact age, but she did tell me how she stayed looking young. It was something about being able to freeze the aging process at will for her true form, but making gradual shifts in her appearance every now and then to fake actually aging. It allowed for her and dad to stay in one place longer. My dad was actually in his early sixties. Charlie shifted to his human form, and I thought about how happy I was when my parents told me we didn't shift back without clothes, like werewolves did. Otherwise, that moment would have been completely mortifying . . .

The only things we had in common with them were the shifting, of course, telepathy, and an alpha. Our telepathy could be used no matter what, where theirs was only in wolf form, and our alphas were the males with the strongest dominance. My dad was our alpha, so my mom and I had to listen to everything he said in command form with the alpha voice. If someone else was to come along and tell me to do something, and his dominance was stronger than my dad's, I would have to listen to whatever he said until someone even more dominant came along. Dad said there was an exception to that, something about mating bonds that didn't allow for that to happen, which was why mom would only ever listen to his commands, and that mating bonds could only be made if the female willingly gave herself to the male. A forced mating could never form the bond, whether the female gave herself or not, and neither would it allow the female to carry that male's offspring. The emotions had to be there, the willingness to let the male close, and not just because it would minimally improve the situation. I was still unmated, so he still had reign over me. The only problem I could see was that my dad wasn't a very dominant soul, and he knew that. As soon as he found my mom, he made sure they didn't come across any other male shifters by taking her somewhere deep in the country, and he . . . _expressed_ his dominance over her. I'll just say that it wasn't long after that I was born, especially since our kind are actually only pregnant for about a month, and we usually have a litter of whatever animal we were last. The babies stay as whatever animal their parents had last been for the first eight weeks, and then slowly gain the ability to change into the form of a human toddler. My parents happened to be wandering around as wolves at the time, but my two siblings went missing only a few days after we were born. Apparently, something got in the den while my parents were nearby and got them, but couldn't manage to grab me, as well. Dad said it smelled human, but it couldn't have gotten away that fast. The three of us were napping, so my parents had taken the time to be alone, to talk without worrying about how much we understood. Mom and dad searched and searched for days, tracking their scents all over the upper West Coast, but the trail went cold. They had to give up, to focus on what they still had, as devastated as it made them. I was the only one left, so my parents usually had a cast iron cage around me at all times. I was older now, though, so they lightened up a bit. And by a bit, I mean they let me go about a quarter of a mile from their sides, instead of four feet. They felt it was quite the jump, but I couldn't agree.

"Belllllaaaaa," Renee said, waving her hand in front of my snout. I shook and blinked before looking up at her. "We're going to go. Meet us behind the castle in a half hour, okay?" I nodded and stood, twitching my tail in goodbye before shifting to the form of a domestic cat, my skin rippling with the changes that needed to be made between forms. My fur turned black and became slightly shorter, my tail losing its bushiness. It was getting towards twilight, so I gave myself a large white spot here and there to help myself blend in. The tats I would normally have as a human left dark grey marks in my now black and white fur, camouflaging me even more.

I ran across the small clearing and slipped around the wall and into the small city, sticking to the shadows and the little alleyways scattered throughout the buildings. A few kids ran up and tried to pet me, and I slinked between their legs, making them giggle. I ran down the main street, avoiding feet and more sticky fingers, before I finally reached the front door of the castle. Unlike near the gate to the city, there were no animals by the castle. The ferals and pets I had passed warned me as I ran, trying to get me to turn back, but I already knew what the danger was. I knew the sun was setting fast, which made me more careful than if it had still been out, but I was determined to check out this building. I only had until the sun was completely set before I had to meet my parents, so I walked around the side of the castle, looking up at the monstrous walls towering over my head.

The entire castle was made from old, aged brick, the grey dulled down by the constant sun. Windows broke through the flat surface every so often, telling me there were at least four floors that I could see from this wall. I could hear movement, but nothing alerting me to someone approaching. I climbed one of the few trees next to the castle wall and peeked into the window directly across from one of the higher branches. It looked like an overly furnished bedroom, the pieces antique but well taken care of. The doorknob suddenly turned and I jumped, almost falling off the slim branch. The vampire looked at me curiously as I regained my footing, and approached the window. She was a small blonde woman, and looked pleasantly surprised to see me so close. I puffed up my back and tail, trying to act like a feral cat, and she smiled.

"Oh, are you scared, kitty?" she asked, her voice mesmerizing to my heightened hearing. My heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest as I continued to look at her. She smiled wider when I took a step back, showing her white teeth. She leaned forward and braced her head on her fist, still staring at me curiously. "You should be, little kitty. I could kill you right now, and you couldn't do anything to stop me."

_Quite the sadistic bitch, aren't you?_ I thought to myself, still backing up until I bumped into the trunk of the tree. Something like suspicion flashed through her eyes and I jumped down, my own curiosity about the castle sated by fear for my life.

I darted over to the wall, trying to make it harder for her to keep track of me, and ran around to the back of the building. The sun was almost completely set by now, and I sat down under a bush to wait for Charlie and Renee, changing my coat again so I was completely black. I perked my ears, listening for any sounds of movement, but there was nothing but the rapid beating of my heart. I laid down and rested my chin on my paws, waiting the last few minutes before my parents were supposed to show up, and took a deep breath to calm myself.

I almost choked on that breath and yowled loudly as someone roughly picked me up by the scruff of my neck. I dangled from their grasp, trying to claw at any part of them I could reach, and my captor turned me so I could see them. I was met with a pair of blood red eyes and teeth like white razors. He was stocky, very wide in the shoulders, and had short brown hair above a deathly pale face. I yowled, hissed, and spat, trying once again to make the vampire let go, but he just chuckled.

"I hear you were peeping into Chelsea's room, little kitty," he said lightly, like he couldn't believe what he was saying. "If you wanted inside so much, you should have just walked in the front door. I guess I'll just have to take you in now. You can be my pet, until I get tired of you, that is," he continued, like it would be an honor. I hissed again and swiped at his face. He just laughed louder.

"Felix? What is so funny?" another male voice said. The vamp holding me walked towards the wall and turned in the direction of the front door, where a tall, slim vampire dressed in all black was standing. His eyes were just as red as my captor's, not making me feel any better about the situation I was in. His hair was black and he flicked his head to the side to get it out of his eyes as he walked toward Felix. "What are you doing?" he asked, like he was talking to a child.

"Apparently Chelsea saw something from little kitty here with her power," Felix said, raising me up in his grasp to emphasize. I growled and swatted at him again, looking at him from the corner of my eye. "She asked me to get it so she could make sure." Well, that confirmed the suspicion I saw in her eyes before I jumped down. I kept struggling, trying to wiggle out of his stone grasp, but didn't feel like I was making any progress.

"And what do you plan to do with it?" the second vamp asked, humoring the first.

"Well, _Demetri_, I was going to take it to her and see if Aro would let me keep it in the castle as a little toy. If not, I'll just kill it," he said, turning me to face him again and giving me an evil grin. "It'll be entertaining either way, just not as long if I have to kill it." I struggled even harder, feeling one of my claws rake his skin, and he yelped. I felt smug as I continued my efforts, knowing my claws were actually strong enough to hurt him if I could get a hold. Another perk to being similar to werewolves.

_Bella!_ My parents' voices screamed through my head at the same time, making me wince.

_No!_ I yelled back. _Stay back!_

But it was too late. They darted through the brush at top speed, both of them going for Felix. I morphed into a fox, trying to shock him into letting me go before Charlie and Renee could get too close, but it was too late. Demetri had both of them by the arm and twisted them until both Charlie and Renee were on the ground in pain. I yowled loudly, trying to get him to let go of them, but all it did was draw attention to my new form. Both of the vampires looked at me in shock, my parents' faces masked with sorrow. All three of us knew what my desperate act would lead to, and now my parents would be brought into it too. Demetri confirmed our fears, looking at me, and then to Felix.

"Bring them to Aro. Immediately."

The two vampires dragged my parents into the castle through a back door, and I stayed hanging from the hand Felix wasn't holding my mother with. He learned his lesson about my claws, holding his arm out so I couldn't get to his side with them. Charlie and Renee kept trying to turn to look at me, but Demetri yanked on their arms until they turned back around. Charlie tried just before we entered the castle, and Demetri yanked even harder, my dad's shoulder emitting a loud _pop_ as it dislocated. I snarled loudly, but my fox form couldn't emit the type of anger I was hoping for as my dad held in a yell of pain.

_Bella, stay calm_, my dad thought to me, his alpha voice ringing in my head. _Don't let them know who you are, don't tell them anything, no matter what happens. Especially, don't show them any more of your forms. If they are not higher in dominance than I am, I want to keep them in the dark as much as possible about us. They may guess that you have a human form, Bella, but nothing else. Don't show them anything else._ I let him feel my understanding, not able to think in coherent sentences at that point. He mentally sighed as I felt the telltale tingle that meant the order was in effect.

_Bella . . . if in fact they are stronger than I am . . . there's nothing I can do to keep you safe. We love you, baby_, he thought, and I whimpered. I could feel his sadness at the possibility of losing me, and my mom felt the same. It's always been a possibility that a male would come along and be stronger than my dad, but never in any of our wildest dreams did we think that male could be a vampire.


	3. Chapter 2 Servitude or Slavery

_Chapter 2: Servitude or Slavery_

"Get going," Demetri snarled, pushing my dad through the doorway. I could feel the pain radiating from his arm, but he didn't make a sound. I growled again, not even close to the growl I had emitted before with my dad's command to stay calm, and he raised an eyebrow at me, not even bothering to respond before turning back around. Felix tightened his grip on my scruff and shook me.

"Knock it off, you little rat," he growled. I snapped towards his wrist and he shook me again, my hips slamming against the wall. I cut off a yelp, but he heard me and laughed, shaking me even harder so I hit the wall again, the same hip hitting again and again. I couldn't help the cry that came from my mouth when something cracked loudly, and he laughed again. My head hit once, making me dizzy as stars erupted before my eyes.

"_Stop it!_" my mom screeched, catching Demetri off guard and running to me. She snatched me from Felix's grip, cradling me against her chest and backing away. Her tears ran down her face and fell on my fur as I blinked away the stars.

"Give it back," Felix demanded, reaching towards me. Mom backed away from his hand, turning so she was mostly between him and me. I was on my back in her arms, my head resting over her rapidly beating heart, and a pulsing pain erupted from my hip when she held me tighter. I whimpered in pain and she looked down at me, immediately lessening her hold.

"Just let her hold it. Sounds like you broke it, anyway," Demetri said, glaring at his partner. He turned around to continue pushing us forward, mumbling something about a bumbling oaf under his breath.

"Go on ahead and alert the Masters of the situation," he said slowly, like he was talking to a child. Felix pushed roughly past my mother, making her stumble and jostle me in her arms, and growled at Demetri as he ran in a flash, disappearing before our eyes. I yelped as I almost fell out of my mother's arms, her arms tightening around my stomach and hips as she caught me.

"I'm sorry, baby," she whispered, stopping to gently adjust me in her hold. My face ended up in the crook of her neck, with her head laying softly on mine, and she used the crook of her elbow to support the rest of my meager weight. She was a small woman, but I was a small fox. My weight was nothing for her.

"I must apologize for his behavior," Demetri said, looking at my mother. She just glared in return, turning so she was in the middle again. "He is not as . . . civil, if you will, as the rest of us."

"What do you want with us?" Charlie growled, holding his dislocated arm to his chest. Quicker than I could keep track of with my new head trauma, Demetri grabbed a hold of my dad's arm and popped it back in, causing Charlie to groan in pain. He immediately let go again, taking a step back. Charlie glared at him, holding his arm against him again. I could sense his injury already healing, the pain slowly receding as he straightened again.

"I want nothing to do with you, but I must follow orders. My masters are interested in those with powers like . . ." He paused gesturing in my direction, before continuing. "If they were to find out about your presence here, and that we let you go instead of bringing you to them, it would be our heads." He let that information sink in, but it didn't change Renee or Charlie's thoughts about the situation at all.

"Will we be allowed to leave?" Renee asked, her eyes pleading with him. Demetri showed no response to her, his voice even and calm.

"I can promise nothing. Now, I need you to follow me. If you don't, I will bring you by force, but I will leave that up to you. I would rather not," he said, his gaze travelling to me again. I raised my head from Renee's shoulder and shook, trying to rid myself of the fuzziness left by my impact with the brick wall. I felt my hip realigning and yelped when it popped back into place, the cracked bones knitting back together slowly. I loved the fact that our injuries healed quickly, but the pain was just as it would have been without the increased healing . . .

"Come," Charlie said, beckoning Renee forward. She glanced at Demetri with suspicion, but took a slow step forward, followed by another, until she was standing behind Charlie. He wrapped his good arm around her shoulders, his hand landing next to my head, and I licked his thumb to get his attention.

_I'm sorry, dad . . . If I had been more careful, we wouldn't be in this mess_, I thought, nuzzling my cheek against his hand. His thumb soothingly caressed the spot between my ears.

_Bella, this is not your fault_, he responded. I just sighed, my energy feeling like it was being sapped from my body as I continued to heal. My mom smiled softly and kissed between my eyes, nuzzling her cheek against mine. I licked her cheek and closed my eyes as they kept walking, stopping a minute later.

"Demetri," Felix's gruff voice said. I opened my eyes to see him standing in front of us, glaring down at me. "The Masters have gathered in the throne room. They wish to see them immediately." Demetri nodded, turning towards us.

"This way," he said, walking towards a large set of double wooden doors. They were probably about ten feet high, and looked like they were straight out of the Medieval Era. I thought about it for a moment, and decided they probably were, with the age of the castle. I felt the healing heat in my hip fade as my injury vanished, and shook my leg to get rid of the tingling feeling. I looked up at my mom, my energy level rising back up, and she smiled.

"All better?" she asked, and I yipped in response. I righted myself so I was lying on my stomach in my mom's arms and looked at the floor.

"Keep hold of her, or I will," Demetri said calmly. There was a threat hiding in his words, but I didn't take the chance to see if he would act on it. I looked at Felix from the corner of my eye, and he seemed to be daring me to jump down so he could do something. I hopped up on Renee's shoulders and laid behind her neck along the line of her shoulders, my tail wrapping around the front of her neck to help balance me. Charlie's arm was right there too, keeping me from falling as she walked. Felix snapped his teeth at me and I bared mine at him, growling deep in my chest.

"Enough," Demetri said, his tone not allowing for argument. He turned to us, his face blank as he talked. "You will do and say nothing unless addressed. If you are told to do something, it would be in your best interest to do so. To refuse would only be detrimental to your situation." He looked at us for a response, but none of us said anything. He took that as our understanding, and turned back to the now opening doors.

"Demetri! Felix!" a cheerful male voice called from the other side of the enormous throne room. The names seemed to echo off the tiled floor and vaulted ceiling, ringing in my ears. I plastered them to my head and Renee put her hand over them, trying to keep the sound from hurting me. Charlie removed his arm from Renee's shoulders, taking a small step so that he was slightly in front of us. "What a nice surprise the two of you have brought me! A human couple with a _pet fox_," his cheerful tone quickly changed to one of sarcasm and annoyance. I saw fear flash over the faces of the vampires in front of us, and I smirked.

"Please, Master Aro, allow us to explain," Demetri said, getting on one knee and bowing his head in submission. I looked up at the man bringing such an intimidating vampire to his knees, and almost whimpered in fear.

His silver hair fell to the point where it almost brushed his broad shoulders. He wasn't extremely large in build, not like Felix's caveman-like self, but he exuded the kind of arrogance and power that made a person seem to swell to an unnatural size. He seemed so much more intimidating than the two vampires that had dragged us in here, and yet, they looked so much stronger. His blood red eyes seemed to stake them where they kneeled, and when they looked to us, we flinched involuntarily. I almost fell off my mother's back, hooking my claws into her shirt and her back jean pocket to keep myself up. I ended up just handing there, my eyes peering over her shoulder at the man that scared the shit out of me, and I didn't even know who he was. I heard what Demetri called him, but that was it. I was too scared of this man to even move from my position and draw more attention to myself. I peeked over at my dad and he looked at me with utter fear on his face. His thoughts were travelling along the same lines as mine.

He was stronger than Charlie, and I didn't have a chance.

"Fine, Demetri. Do tell us why you and Felix decided it appropriate to disturb us with something that seems so trivial," Aro said, his voice still portraying his annoyance. The other two men, both of them brunettes, sat on either side of the middle throne on the raised dais at the end of the room. Aro, the apparent leader of the three men, sat in the largest of the thrones, crossing one leg over the other and resting his cheek on his fist as he waited for an explanation.

As I looked at the men sitting before us, the kings of vampire society, I had no doubt in my mind as to why Demetri followed any and all of his orders. To be on their bad side was to be dead, more dead than a vampire already is. Demetri looked back at us, at me, like he knew what I was thinking. I could see an apology in his black eyes, like he knew how this was going to end, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen.

Demetri explained everything that happened outside, how the female vampire, Chelsea, asked Felix to investigate a cat that was outside her window, and how he heard him talking to someone and went to find out what was going on. He told the Volturi leaders of Chelsea's discovery in regard to the cat, a.k.a. me, and how Felix caught me just before Demetri himself showed up. Besides what Chelsea told them about what she noticed, the only thing that seemed to really catch the three vampires' attention was the mention of my changing form. They seemed to be debating how their guard members caught a cat and came in with a fox, and the explanation brought a look of surprise to all of their faces. They did not interrupt, though, and let Demetri continue, telling them about my struggling that ended in Felix getting a claw in his arm, their need for their vampire strength to get us to cooperate, and Felix's heavy-handedness that led to me being—almost—where I was at that moment: in my mother's arms, rather than being restrained by one of them. Demetri finished his tale, his head still bowed and his body completely still as he and Felix awaited the response of their leaders.

"Well, Demetri and Felix, if you had told me anything less than what I just heard, you would have needed to fear for your life." Aro stood and beckoned us forward, but we were still frozen where we stood. He seemed to realize what was going on, and a sickly sweet smile appeared on his face.

"Please step forward. I know the beginning of you encounter with our kind was not pleasant, but I assure you, no more harm will come to any of you this night. You are our guests, and should not have been treated as you were," he gushed, spreading his arms like he expected us to run up and embrace him in thankfulness. Charlie and Renee glanced at each other in fear, but they stepped forward until they were just behind where Demetri and Felix kneeled at the foot of the dais. There were only about six feet between us and the men that held our fate in their hands. Aro stepped forward until he was in front of Demetri and Felix, glaring down at them.

"Return to your posts," Aro ordered. They bowed slightly deeper than they had been before standing.

"Yes, Master," they said simultaneously, and turned to walk away.

"Felix," Aro called when they got half way to the door, "I will be dealing with you later regarding your treatment of our youngest guest." Felix visibly swallowed his fear and nodded once, following Demetri out of the room. A reverberating _boom_ sounded as the doors closed again, leaving us alone with the three Volturi leaders.

"So," Aro started, looking at each of us, "you are all shape shifters like your little one there, yes?" He gestured towards me with one hand and waited for one of us to answer. At first, I didn't think Charlie would answer, but he did with only a single word.

"Yes." Aro nodded, seeming pleased with an answer, even though it wasn't much of one. He gestured to the little bit of me he could see again and looked between Charlie and Renee.

"May I see the young one?" he asked, strategically avoiding the use of "it" in reference to me. Charlie tensed at the request and looked to Renee, who silently pleaded with him to refuse. Dad sighed slowly and nodded to mom to set me down, but she backed up and shook her head. I could see the conflict in my father's eyes, his reluctance to order Renee to do something he didn't want her to do in the first place, but his desire to keep Aro happy and us safe.

"Put her down now," he said, his dominance peaking out just enough so mom couldn't refuse.

She let out a small cry as she reached behind her, her movements jerky as she tried to fight against Charlie's order. She slipped her hands under my arms and slowly lifted me from her back, me letting go of her shirt as she did so. I knew this was hard enough on her without me fighting, so I let her do what she needed to. My nails clacked on the tiled floor as she set me down, and I immediately tucked my tail between my legs, backing up until I ran into her calf.

Aro kneeled down and extended a hand towards me, beckoning me forward. I looked up to Charlie, and he nodded for me to go, closing his eyes and turning away before I could even respond. I looked at Aro again and took a step forward, turning my body so I wasn't completely facing him, and scooted on my belly. I was being as submissive as I possibly could as I approached the vampire, and his smile grew larger and larger the closer I got. I stopped three feet away and he just looked at me, his red eyes running over my body.

"Utter perfection . . ." he murmured, closing the space I had left. I flinched when he approached, but stayed still, shaking like a leaf where I lay. "What else is there to your abilities?" he asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity, but never taking his eyes off me. My heart immediately began to beat faster when he asked this, knowing that it was the one thing Charlie refused to tell them. Aro seemed to understand the reason for my rapidly beating heart, and his head shot up to look directly at Charlie.

"I have already discovered quite a few of your abilities from Demetri's story, and a few more from watching you in our throne room. What is the difference of just enlightening me? I will find out eventually anyway," Aro said, trying to reason with my father. Charlie stayed silent, keeping his earthy gaze locked with Aro's bloody one. Aro narrowed his eyes, his hand coming forward to land on my head. He petted the top of my head as he watched Charlie's face, his mouth forming a smirk as Charlie squirmed.

"You have strength to match that of a vampire, and speed, as well. Your ability to change is not limited to one animal, like the werewolves in America, or the Children of the Moon here in Europe, and I know each of you has at least one human form. The three of you can communicate telepathically, and, looking at the fox's lack of injury, as well as yours, you have a heightened ability to heal. You can also injure us, according to what I heard about our furry friend and Felix," Aro listed, his hand still petting me, getting more and more rough as he went on. My chin hit the floor when he mentioned Felix, and his hand paused on my neck when he finished. "Now, tell me of your other abilities," he said again, the threat of consequences unspoken but obvious. And yet, Charlie remained silent, his eyes betraying his fear as he looked at me. Aro glared again, his hand roughly grabbing my scruff as he lifted me off the floor. I dangled in his grip, the tip of my tail brushing the floor as I tried to free myself. He raised me up until I was face-to-face with him and I froze, staring into his scarlet eyes.

"You know what else I learned, little vixen?" he asked, tilting his head again. I stayed completely still. "The female cannot disobey the male, and, since you are female," he explained, his eyes travelling between my legs before returning to my face, a smirk on his mouth, "you should not be able to disobey. Whether it works between races or not, I cannot be sure . . . but we are about to find out." Charlie snarled from where he stood, two vampires appearing on either side of my mom and dad to hold them still. Aro smiled at them, his face full of amusement, before he looked back at me.

"You will tell me of your abilities, little vixen, and you will do it now. Change back you're your human form and explain your race's abilities," he ordered, and I flinched, my flesh immediately altering to shift to a larger form. My brown hair fell to the middle of my back, which he immediately grabbed and pulled. My skin was pale white, my five foot four frame covered in a v-neck t-shirt and cargo capris. I could see the reflection of my heart-shaped face and deep brown eyes in his gaze as he watched me shift, and a small drop of blood appeared at the corner of my mouth from the force of his command. Had he used less force to command me to change, it wouldn't have happened.

"Now, tell me about your race's abilities, lovely child," he cooed, brushing the back of his free hand over my cheek. I felt the words forming in my mind as the tingle of the command settled in, the words I wanted to keep silent, and I shook even more as I fought against him. Aro got impatient, though, and snarled in my face with his teeth bared.

"Now, you little bitch!" he yelled in my face, shaking me by my hair. I cried out and tripped over my own feet as I tried to keep my balance, hanging from his fist by my hair when I fell. I felt another drip of blood come from my nose as I continued to keep the word from spilling from my mouth, Aro grinning from ear to ear as he realized what was happening. I could hear my parents screaming at me, at him, at someone as they stood restrained, before forced to watch. Finally, when the blood was streaming from my nose and mouth, my energy so depleted from fighting the command that my arms fell to my sides and I literally hung from his hand, the words burst from my lips.

"Powers range from person to person, and there are many. Some have multiple powers, while others have none," I breathed out quietly, my eyes falling closed in defeat. "We are immortal, just as you are, but we are much closer to living beings than vampires. We can only die from an immediately fatal injury, like decapitation. Being shot in the heart would not kill us, since we would start to heal before we actually died. We can't heal as fast as a vampire, but it is still many times faster than a human. Age and illness cannot touch us, just like with the other immortal races." I paused in the hopes that the information would satisfy him, at least for now, but he wasn't completely done yet.

"Little vixen, tell me exactly what your powers are," he said slowly, trying to sound calm. I attempted to fight again, but just started trembling harder as the blood flow started once again.

"I'm a shield," I gushed, gasping for breath. "No mental abilities can touch me or anyone I extend my shield over. I can make the shield real to block physical attacks, and it still blocks mental ones at the same time. I'm strong enough to tear apart a vampire as any predatory animal, and can project my thought out loud to communicate without shifting back to human form. I'm also synesthetic, but I don't use that power often. It means I can temporarily enhance any of my six senses, touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, and fight or flight, but I have to deplete one or more of the others to do so. As a human, I can grow bone into any kind of sharp weapon I want, like spikes along my arms or daggers for throwing, but that's it." I gasped, the pain in my scalp feeling as if the skin was going to separate from my skull. He lifted me up onto my feet, making me cry out again, and yanked my face around so I was looking at him.

"I think, my dear vixen," Aro said, grinning like a mad man as he let go of my hair, holding me up by only my neck, "you and your family only have two choices: servitude or slavery."


	4. Chapter 3 A Mission and Announcement

_***Rated M Content***_

_Chapter 3: A Mission and Announcement_

_6 Years Later_

_I wonder if I should ask Rose to go shopping with me today_, I thought to myself as I sat at my easel. I was painting the view from my and Jasper's bedroom balcony, something I've done once a year from each of the windows in our house to capture the changes from year to year. It was cool to be able to go back to a house we hadn't lived in for a while and look back at my canvases to see how it changed while we were gone. No one else really got my reasoning or fascination but Jazzy, and maybe Esme, but I did it anyway.

"From what I'm . . . _seeing_, she might not be up for it right this moment," Edward said from his room with a chuckle. I laughed and shook my head, knowing exactly what he was talking about. She and Emmet were always going at it when nothing was really going on.

"Alright, I guess I'll try her in . . . _three hours?_" I screeched, dropping my brush into the cup of water sitting next to me. Edward just laughed and went downstairs, music flowing from the piano not a second later. "_Rosalie!_" I yelled, barreling out of the bedroom and down to theirs. I came to a dead stop half way down the hall, right in front of Edward's door, when a vision hit me . . .

_Carlisle coming home at 5:02 and declaring a family meeting . . ._

_The announcement that we are moving to Forks, Washington as soon as possible . . ._

_Edward's happiness at finally getting farther away from Tanya . . ._

_The twist of having to go to Volterra because of some stupid promise to visit every thirty years . . ._

I looked further ahead to see what to expect in Volterra, blocking my thoughts from Edward by reciting the alphabet backwards in Greek. All I got was a brief, blurry flash of a girl's face, and Edward smiling like I have never seen him smile before. I screeched again and jumped up and down, clapping my hands.

"I've got to start packing!"

—

_Servitude or slavery . . ._

I remembered that day like it happened yesterday, not six whole years ago. The choices were really exactly the same, but still impossible. The asshole gave me a choice of either willingly serving him and letting my parents live in the "lap of luxury" in the castle dungeons, or him forcing me to do his bidding and my parents _still_ living in the dungeons, except without any kind of comfort, like regular meals. Either way, he was keeping my parents as incentive for me to cooperate. As soon as I realized the difference between my choices, it became quite clear as to which I should choose.

_Servitude_.

As I lay spread eagle in the middle of my king-sized canopy bed surrounded by mounds of pillows, squinting my eyes from the early morning sunlight streaming through my window, I debated that choice. Right now, my parents were locked in a guarded cell at the end of a dead end hallway three floors under the ground, under the threat of my death if they tried to escape. I was the same: if I tried to escape while on a mission, or just from the castle, both of my parents would slowly be ripped apart and burned as they tried to heal as I was forced to watch. I would never admit it to Aro or the other brothers, but it was very good incentive. I would never allow any harm to come to my parents because of something I did. Aro made sure to explain how they would have been brought to the bottom-most level of the castle dungeons and shackled to the wall for the rest of eternity had I refused to serve him. I would never have been allowed to see them, but now I was allowed only when Aro approved of it and someone was with me. It was Demetri most of the time, since Aro would not allow Felix near me without another vampire around after he used his mind-reading ability to see the malicious thoughts Felix had about me. Now, six years later, Aro assured me that Felix's feelings had changed, but I didn't believe him. I still stayed as far from Felix as I could get. Demetri seeped sorrow at my family's situation, both then and now, and tried to be as civil and polite as he could with other members of the Volturi guard just outside the door.

I sighed loudly as I looked around the cavernous bedroom on the second floor of the castle I had been given when we were brought in. Aro had allowed me to customize it myself, as a show of good faith, I guess, and I did just to keep him off my back. I used it as a chance to make him think I was slowly accepting what happened, and it seemed to work. I slowly gained his trust every day after that, listening to his orders with less and less of a struggle until there was none, an order immediately followed. I, of course, never showed him any kind of trust, but he did not ask for any.

The walls of my room, like those in the rest of the castle, were a dark grey color, the surface smoothed until there was no telling the brick from the mortar that kept it in place. My bed, dresser, hope chest, and end table were all polished mahogany. It was similar to the color of my hair in the sun, a dark brown with deep red highlights. I also had a matching desk for when I decided to draw or write, with an acoustic guitar leaning against the side. Many of my drawings were taped on the walls in an attempt to cover the dungeon-like brick, ranging from some of my most favorite forms to the view outside the window or our home back in Washington. The floor was covered by a large, plush throw rug in a light, almost grey, blue that complimented the color of the walls, but still brought some color in. The silk bedspread was a darker blue randomly splashed with silver, like the lighter patches in the sky at night. Small silver stars littered the fabric and the ceiling, giving me the impression of actually being outside instead of stuck in my own personal prison. My full bathroom was decorated much the same, with blue carpet in front of the claw-foot tub and the clouded glass shower. The one thing that someone would find strange when they looked at this room was the one item that was missing, something found in almost every bedroom, and especially in the bathroom: a mirror.

One of the few things denied of me is the chance to see my own face. Since that first day, Aro has made it known that he admires my appearance greatly, and wishes only his eyes or the eyes of a vampire to see my actual form. Every time I leave the castle, the command kicks in to alter my appearance, changing my hair to a dirty blonde, extending my height until I was two inches taller, and sharpening my features. According to him, it just made me look older and did nothing to diminish my "ample beauty." It was either that, or an animal form, so that was my usual choice.

*Aro constantly showed me his level of adoration for my body, ordering regular . . . _appointments_ with me at least once a week. I figured spending centuries with the same woman got dull after a while, but it didn't make me any more willing. I refused the first time, and he proceeded to take me anyway, tying me up across his bed and having his way with me as tears poured from my eyes at the pain. He said it would be my punishment every time I refused, but it was no different from any other time. I was never ready for him, and he was too impatient to do anything about it. He was always rough, causing me some kind of serious injury that would last at least two days to fully heal, but it never did anything to change his decisions.* My parents knew about this, but were too scared of him doing something else to me to say anything. They would try their best to comfort me when I visited them, but nothing helped. I was his play thing, and sometimes he would lend me to his brothers as entertainment. He even ordered me to never deny the order of any vampire in the castle, so I was basically the Volturi's whore. I was a reward for those who succeeded on an important mission, or sometimes just a mission, and Aro allowed them to use me to satisfy their physical desires as a treat.

My train of thought reminded me that Aro had yet to call for me this week, and I dared to wish that he was getting tired of me. There was no chance of that, of course, but I still allowed myself to dream. I looked at the clock and groaned, knowing it was time to get up. Aro told me he had a mission for me today, and the last thing on my mind was to keep that bastard waiting. It was only eight o'clock, but that was considered late to someone who didn't sleep.

I grudgingly got up and stretched, raising my arms as high as they would go and moaning at the sensation. I walked to the bathroom and relieved myself, proceeding to take a quick shower before stepping back into my room in a towel reaching to just below my ass. Everything I owned had been bought with Aro's influence on the decisions, leaving me with everything that touched my body being borderline indecent to wear outside the privacy of my bedroom I opened the door to the walk-in closet after grabbing undergarments from my dresser just as a knock sounded on my door.

"Vix, it's Demetri," he said, his voice travelling easily through the wood to my sensitive ears. I smiled at the name, pleased that I was able to keep at least one thing secret. Well, that and my tattoos. I had yet to show them to anyone. Aro never thought to demand my name, and neither of my parents could be forced to give it, so I was known as Vixen in the castle and out. No one knew my real name was Isabella Swan, and that's the way I was going to keep it. I knew Demetri knew it wasn't my real name, but he never asked, knowing Aro would find out not long after he did.

"Come in," I called, still in the walk-in. I pulled on the mandatory lace panties and bra set, dropping the towel to the floor so I could move around easier. I heard Demetri open the door and shut it behind him, followed by the almost silent groan of the bed as he sat on one side.

Demetri was probably the closest thing to a friend I had here, and the only one I trusted to be in my room with me without trying to take me against the wall. I could tell he felt immensely guilty for everything that happened to us, and the one time Aro demanded he have his way with me, he apologized the entire time. Aro looked into Demetri's mind and saw his feelings towards my situation, unconsciously letting me know that Demetri thought of me like a little sister, and demanded he take me or watch Felix flay me right in front of him, being forced to watch as my body painfully stitched itself back together. He looked at me in horror and I gave him a small, sad smile. I knew he was conflicted and gave him an almost imperceptible nod that it was okay, that I would understand his obvious choice.

*He was much more gentle than any of the others, actually attempting to arouse me so that his entering wouldn't hurt so much. The situation didn't help either of our desires, though. I was thankful for his effort, but told him to just do it and get it over with. We knew Aro would check his memories to make sure he did as he was told, so there was no getting around it. He thrust once before he was fully sheathed in me, and I only let a small whimper escape my lips before I quieted down. He was feeling bad enough already without hearing me. He put a hand around the back of my neck and kissed my forehead before pushing my face into his shoulder in an attempt to comfort me, apologizing over and over again as he kept moving within me. I wrapped my arms around his torso, clutching his back with my nails until he finished and gently pulled out, immediately getting dressed and holding me to his chest until my unnoticed tears ceased.* He wrapped me up in the many blankets covering my bed after gently putting an extra large t-shirt and a pair of panties on me, surrounding me in the downy softness of the pillows now littering the floor. He kissed my forehead and apologized one last time before walking out just as I fell asleep. Aro never demanded that of him again, watching as we only got closer afterwards.

Things had been much different between us since then, much more open. He would tell me things that bothered him, interested him, anything that crossed his mind, and I just sat and listened. In return, he would come and comfort me after a . . . session . . . telling me about his life before the Volturi, of his homeland and the girl he fell for before he was attacked. I appreciated those stories more than he would ever know, and there weren't words to express that gratitude, so I didn't try. He really was like an older brother, walking with me everywhere to make sure nothing happened. If I was in animal form, he took to carrying me or setting me on his shoulders. If he was sent off for something, he would report to Aro or one of the other brothers before immediately coming to me to make sure I was okay. I would leave him a note if I wasn't going to be in my room for whatever reason, and an estimated time for my return in case he wanted to stick around. He always did.

"You okay in there?" he asked, jolting me out of my memories. I quickly grabbed one of my fishnet tops, basically the only kind of top I was allowed to wear outside my room besides corset-inspired ones, and a matching pair of tight black skinny jeans as I called out an affirmative. The top only had solid fabric over my chest, ending just above my navel and under the very top of my cleavage, and the back was complete fishnet. I grabbed a pair of black peep-toe heels, about two inches high, and walked out to the bed, grabbing my towel along the way. I set down my shoes, shirt, and pants and leaned to the side so my hair gathered on one side. I squeezed the excess water from my hair and looked at Demetri, who was intently examining my carpet from his new position on my hope chest.

"What brings you here, besides an apparent desire to count the threads in my throw rug?" I asked, teasing him. I knew he was trying to be polite and give me a sense of privacy, but there was no need, and he knew that. He had already seen all there was to see, as well as most of the rest of the guard. I pulled on my pants, shimmying my hips into the tight material and securing the button fly. The top of my jeans stopped just below the flare of my hips, leaving the dip on each side visible.

"Well, Aro asked me to wake you. He wants you to have as much daylight as possible for this mission, but apparently I was not needed," he said, letting fake sadness enter his voice. I reached over and plucked my brush from the bedside table before sitting next to him. It wasn't unnatural for Aro to send me out on missions, dangerous or not. I thought he'd be using the other two shifters he'd managed to capture, but from what I'd heard, they were still extremely uncooperative. He couldn't order them are as easily as me since they were male, his only advantage being his dominance and ability to fill the alpha role for them. Basically the same as with me, but males were able to resist orders, usually with some sort of punishment included.

"Oh, you faker! You know I love when you visit me!" I said, throwing an arm around him before attempting to tackle my wet mass of hair. The brush immediately got stuck in a large knot from my tossing and turning, and Demetri laughed. The sound was musical, the one thing I wanted to hear whenever something bad had happened, and he didn't laugh enough. He stood and physically turned me before removing the brush, taking a small amount of hair and gently removing the tangles as he talked.

"He also wanted me to tell you the details, just so you are more prepared. It's not a difficult mission, just a daytime reconnaissance mission. Aro is expecting two American clans to visit in three days, and he wants you to make sure no newborns or rogues are anyway near their route to pose possible complications," he explained quietly, finishing the left side of my head and turning me to face the other direction.

"So . . . I'm basically going for a run," I said, and he chuckled.

"If you want to look at it that way, then yes. You'll just be much more alert on this run than others," he said, his enjoyment of my choice of words evident in his response. He finished my hair quickly, tapping me on the shoulder with the brush when he finished, and sat back down. I tossed the brush back on the table as I stood to grab my shirt, throwing the thing on as gracefully as I could with all the stupid holes.

"Do I need to see him before I leave?" I asked, bringing my hair out of my shirt and letting it fall back down my back. Demetri thankfully shook his head.

"I have the map of their route with me. You just need to memorize it and use that synesthesia of yours to smell for anyone who shouldn't be there. He wishes for you to escort them here on the day of your arrival as well," he responded. I sighed loudly and nodded, fiddling with the collar around my neck.  
>A quarter-sized Volturi pendant hung from the loop of the gem-encrusted chain, a heavy reminder of the changes that flipped my entire family's life around. The collar was made of links of solid gold chain, with every other link filled by an oval-shaped, dime-sized—and extremely rare—gem. It would have been nice, had the circumstances surrounding my wearing it been different. I quickly found out, unfortunately, that my shifting also affected the collar, making it adjust so that it fit the same way in any form. The pendant shrunk and grew as needed, as well. Demetri's eyes fell to the pendant sitting just under the hollow of my throat and his mood visibly fell. I covered it with my hand, leaving just the gemmed chain for him to see, and he gave me a half smile.<p>

"Come on," he said softly, holding out his hand for me to take. I did, and he handed me the map from the back pocket of his jeans, as well as a power bar. I memorized it quickly as I munched, the route being thankfully short and rather straight. I smiled up at my surrogate big brother, letting him know I was ready, and we raced to the door, me shifting as I jumped forward and him just making a break for it. My small fox feet blurred as I ran full speed next to him, the wind whipping my tail back and forth. I lived for these moments with Demetri, where he just let go and had fun. They were few and far between, but nothing could ruin my day afterward. And I mean nothing. These were the happier moments I loved with him, the others usually much less light in mood.

We reached the door much too quickly and I jumped right on it, my claws sticking in to hold me up there. I gave Demetri as much of a grin as I could with a fox's face, but he knew what I was saying.

"Alright, alright. You win that one, Vixen, but you won't win the next. Now, go finish your mission, little miss," he said, smiling at me as I let go of the door. I blinked once and he cracked open the door, letting me slip out in the small shadow still covering the steps. I paused and turned back for a moment, a devilish glint in my eyes. I had one last thing to say before I left, and he waited for me to project so he could hear it.

_I win, big brother!_


	5. Chapter 4 The Fox

_***Rated M Content Mentioned***_

_Chapter 4: The Fox_

We left for Italy two days after Carlisle announced our moving. I was extremely relieved to not have to start another school year with a bunch of hormonally confused high school students, with their vulgar thoughts about my family, and unfortunately, me. Being single does not pay off when you are a vampire in a high school that looks to be only seventeen years old. Every girl seems to want you, and every guy seems to either want to be you, or wants you dead. If only they knew . . .

The only drawback to the trip? A certain strawberry blonde vampire who thought it would be a good idea to tag along and keep me company.

Tanya was currently draped across my lap, her finger running over my chest and her breasts pressed against my stomach. She had dressed in as little as possible, her shirt front plunging down to her navel and the opening leaving little to the imagination. It was tight enough to stay closed, but it would take the wrong breeze or shift to expose her chest. Her other hand kept trying to run across the top of my jeans, but I grabbed her wrist and put her hand on her own stomach. She constantly kissed and nipped at any part of me she could reach with her fangs in her current position, and just as I thought that, the zipper of my jeans, as well as the . . . appendage . . . under it, was under attack. I shot up from my seat, effectively disposing of her on the floor, and mumbled something about checking out a different view. Only an hour into the trip, and I already wanted to jump out of the freaking plane.

I went to the very front of our private jet, where the pilot was casually keeping hold of the controls, and stood behind him. He asked if I needed anything, and I mentioned a change in company, making him chuckle. He knew exactly who I was talking about, being a vampire as well as a member of the male gender. He went back to watching the ever-darkening sky and I fell into my own thoughts for once, thanking him for keeping his mind quiet.

As Jasper and Emmet—the latter more than the former—made sure to constantly remind me, I was Tanya Denali's next target. I had been for a while, like a decade or two, and she had yet to give up. Not once had I shown any kind of interest in her, other than being polite to a member of an allied clan, and I had told her that many times already. She is carrying a deluded notion that I "want" her just as bad as she wants me, and I'm just making the chase more fun for her by playing hard to get. There seemed to be no way to convince her otherwise. _None_.

She and her sisters were _succubae_, which basically means they are vampire call-girls, and they did not discriminate between vampires and humans. In actuality, the legend told the story of female demons that had sex with human men while they were asleep. Close, but not quite. They actually had standing in the vampire world, where men and women never age and quickly get tired of the same thing day after day. Being able to contact a woman who would willingly let you do anything to her would seem alluring, I guess, but I didn't agree. In my one hundred years as a vampire, or something like that, I had never indulged myself with a random female in such an intimate way. My choice made me the ass end of some, if not most, of Emmet's jokes, but I didn't care anymore. I, in my thoughts, preferred the word whore to describe them, but I could never say that out loud; my mothers raised me better than that. Irina and Kate were not nearly as bad as Tanya, putting themselves out there, but accepting the word "no" when it was given.

Tanya, on the other hand, fought for what she desired until she got it, which is why she convinced, or, more accurately, _dragged_ her family with us to Volterra. Eleazar and Carmen agreed without much fuss, Eleazar seeing the trip as a chance to catch up with his former boss. Apparently Aro didn't mind, or they certainly wouldn't have been there with us. Thankfully, they weren't staying the entire time we were obligated to, an entire year, but I had to make sure my room was nowhere near Tanya's. I didn't care if I was in the dungeons if it meant there was a significant amount of distance between us.

"Eddie?" her screeching voice called from the other side of the door. I sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb, trying to keep my fangs from extending in my anger. I heard the pilot, Kyle, chuckle, and glared at him.

"Only another hour, Edward," he whispered, trying to comfort me. I just shook my head and walked back into the cabin, completely ignoring Tanya and shaking her off when she grabbed my arm. I stood in front of Esme and Carlisle, who were sitting next to Eleazar and Carmen, and silently pleaded with them to help me.

_Exactly forty six minutes and thirty seconds before we land, Edward_, Alice thought. _You can do it!_ I closed my eyes and sighed again, jumping when two arms wrapped strongly around me from behind.

"Eddie, I was talking to you! Why didn't you stop?" her annoyingly loud voice said directly into my ear. I looked apologetically at Eleazar and Carmen, who only shrugged, knowing the truth of the situation, and removed Tanya's arms from around me. I turned to face her and she launched herself at my face, but I was able to catch her by her upper arms before she made any contact with her lips or needle-sharp fangs. She looked disappointed and confused, tilting her head and trying to look endearing as she stared at me.

"Eddie, what's the matter with you? Why won't you let me kiss you? I thought you loved me," she pouted. I let her go and took a giant step away, keeping my hands in front of me like I was teaching a dog to stay.

"First of all, my name is Edward. If you cannot call me by my name, then do not call me. Second, nothing is wrong with me. I cannot truthfully say the same about you. And third, I will not let you kiss me because we are not together. I do not like you. I never have liked you. I will _never_ like you. I have been polite and civil about this for too long, but apparently you are not understanding what I am trying to tell you. So, do you understand now?" I asked slowly. She glared at me, but I was past caring about her emotions at that point.

"No, I don't, Eddie! I don't understand! We've been so happy since you and your family came to Alaska! Why is it so different all of a sudden? Why are you so distant?" she screeched, which, now that I thought about it, wasn't so different from any other time she talked normally. I held back a growl of frustration, trying to keep some form of civility to this conversation, but she was making it impossible.

"We have _NEVER_ been happy together, Tanya! _We have never been TOGETHER_! I'm not acting any different than I did before! _You_ just seem to think we are together, no matter what I say. I'm not putting up with this anymore."

I walked past her to the rear of the plane, leaving her standing there with an angry, confused look on her face. Her mind kept replaying moments where we had been "happy" as she tried to find out what "changed" between us. She couldn't think of anything, and promised to herself that she would try everything she could think of to fix it. I groaned and resisted the urge to punch the seat in front of me. I tried to take calming breaths, feeling Jasper's influence roll over me as he assisted, and I let my head fall back against the head rest. The entire plane was silent for the last ten minutes of the trip, and I ran full speed out of the passenger cabin as soon as the plane came to a stop.

I hopped into the rented yellow Porsche sitting on the tarmac, Alice and Jasper following close behind. I crossed my arms over my chest as they started laughing at me, starting the car and waiting for the others to get into theirs. I closed my eyes for a second as Alice and Jasper watched the others behind us, but they shot open at the soft _click_ of nails on metal. When I noticed what had made the sound, Alice and Jasper had also turned and discovered the source.

A red fox.

Looking from the outside of the car, our reaction would have been comical. Three vampires . . . sitting in a car . . . staring at a small red fox sitting in the hood. Each of our heads fell to one side in confusion, like the new angle would allow us to see the creature for what it really was, instead of what we were seeing. It didn't work.

The fox still sat there, so close it was almost on the windshield. It had its head tilted, just as we did, and seemed to be asking something with its dark orange eyes. Its ears twitched every now and then as it picked up even the faintest of sounds, sounds I could barely hear, and it suddenly yawned, like it was getting tired of waiting for us. I mentally shook myself and took in the sight before me.

This was no ordinary fox, the coloring much too . . . strange to be the same as the red foxes back in the States. Sure, it was the same shade of red, with the same small form and large, bushy tail, but the streaks of lighter and darker red shouldn't have been there, nor the seemingly human mind looking out from the creature's now almost white eyes, almost like silver in color. The thought of its changing eyes slipped from my mind as I noticed the chain link collar around its neck, and the pendant hanging from it.

The pendant was in the shape of an oval, with a small ruby red stone at the top, just below where the loop was. A large "V" sat in the middle of the pendant, surrounding a crest with a tree and an eagle. It was a smaller version of a crest all of us knew well, and not one we planned to see until we got to the castle, especially not on a fox.

The Volturi crest.

"Edward," Jasper whispered, like his voice would spook the creature, "do you see . . . what I see? Or should I be worried that my ability has finally driven me insane?" I shook my head.

"No, I see it too," I whispered back. "Alice?" She just nodded, apparently unable to form words for the first time in her sixty-something years as a vampire. I scanned the minds of the rest of our group, since all of our cars were parked next to each other, and they had realized the same thing as us about the furry little beast sitting on the Porsche. I started to get out, moving towards the door, but the fox made a small _yip_, making me pause.

_You are the Americans coming to see the master, are you not?_ A surprisingly hostile voice asked, reverberating inside the car. I knew immediately that I wasn't hearing this beast's thoughts, that it had spoke out loud, but it was not in the least bit comforting. I regained my composure—again—and nodded.

"Yes, we are the Cullens and the Denalis. Aro has been alerted to our arrival in Volterra," I respond. The fox—a vixen, from the sound of the voice—gives what sounds like its version of a condescending laugh, its tone no friendlier.

_Vampire_, she started, spitting the word, _if Master had not known about your arrival, I would not be here to . . . greet you, would I?_ One thing I knew for sure from listening to her was that vampires were not on her good list. Her voice was tense, making it known that this was the last place she wanted to be.

"That is true. I apologize for stating the obvious," I said, letting my voice soften in sincerity. An emotion other than utter hatred flashed through her eyes, gone before I could properly identify it. There was something about this little vixen, something . . . endearing about her, that made me want her happy. Even though she seemed to outright despise us . . . there was . . . _something_ . . . I was drawn out of my thoughts by another sharp _yip_. She seemed to know my attention was elsewhere.

_Now, if we are done with questions, can we proceed to the castle?_ she asked in annoyance, flicking her tail towards the open gate of the airstrip, the very end of her tail a bright white, like it was dipped in paint. I nodded.

"Would you like a ride?" I asked hesitantly, trying not to sound anxious. She just stared at me and blinked slowly.

_I would much rather run than be stuck in a small space with three blood drinkers_, she said icily, her obvious contempt dripping from her words. I nodded slowly.

"Did Aro mention our choice in regard to dieting to you?" I asked, trying to figure out exactly why she held such hatred for us. She bared her small, pointed teeth for a moment and plastered her ears back before speaking.

_Yes_, she spat, _and it makes no difference to me what you decide to feed on. I am both human and animal, so either way, I am a meal to you_, she growled out. That comment only added to my confusion, and she seemed to notice. _Everything will be explained to you by the master when we reach the castle. I am here to make sure you arrive without trouble, not to answer your questions_, she said, her annoyance growing by the second. I just nodded and she hopped off the hood, running to the gate and stopping to make sure we were following. Alice shifted into gear and drove to the gate, the others following close behind. We rolled up and the fox stood again, glaring at us.

_Try to keep up, vampires_, she said, spitting the last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. Alice looked at Jasper in confusion, silently asking how _she_ was going to keep up.

We quickly found out when the little fox turned into a little red blur, shooting down the road as fast as . . . well, one of _us_. Alice hit the gas and we peeled out of the lot after her, getting the car to about one hundred and twenty before we managed to catch up and keep up. From what I could tell, the fox wasn't even going as fast as she could, and we had leveled out at one hundred. The more time we spent with the little vixen, the more questions I had about her. I thought of one, about why she seemed to want us dead when she didn't even know us, and I looked at Jasper. He must have felt something in my emotions that hinted to my question, because he turned and shook his head.

"Something has happened at Volterra to make her this way, Edward," he whispered, trying to guarantee that we weren't overheard. We had no idea how good her hearing was, but if her speed was any hint, the precaution was probably necessary.

"Every time she speaks of Aro or the castle, pure hatred seems to swallow her. There's nothing else there but that hatred. It's the same with vampires. It doesn't seem to be us personally, but what we are. She doesn't care about the who, just the what." He paused, his thought process flitting over a ripple of emotion he felt underneath the hatred when I spoke to her, or, more specifically, when I apologized to her, and every time afterwards. A hint of . . . self-doubt, possibly, and . . . maybe interest?

"You think . . . I interest her?" I asked him incredulously. He shrugged one shoulder.

"You definitely caught her attention, but that's about as far as I know for sure. The emotion was there, but it was buried underneath the hatred again before I could get a good enough read on it," he answered. "What about you?" I thought about it for a moment, a realization quickly growing to fruition in my mind.

"Jasper . . . I can't . . . I didn't hear anything from her while she was talking, only what she was projecting," I said slowly, looking from my hands to his shocked face.

"Well, try it now, just to be sure," he responded as his thoughts whirled, trying to find possibilities that would explain her blank mind. I looked through the windshield and stared straight at the red splash of color in front of the car, focusing completely on her. I searched for her mind, her conscious, and located it, but when I tried to look inside at her thoughts . . . nothing. Her mind was as blank as the clouded night sky over our heads. Not even a glimpse of color or words . . . There was nothing there. _I couldn't read her_. I pushed harder, poking and prodding at the invisible barrier keeping me away, when her voice entered the car, scaring me back to awareness.

_I would appreciate if you kept your ability to yourself. My mind is blocked, and it will stay that way, no matter what you do. So, leave my thoughts alone_, she snarled. I sat back against the seat and looked at Jasper, whose shocked face turned back towards the windshield. I followed his lead, just in time to see the enormous brick wall surrounding Volterra Castle come into view.

The castle itself I already knew was about three stories high in most places, with others having towers and spires that went one to two stories higher. The thing about the castle, though, was that its rooms were about ten to eleven feet from floor to ceiling, which made it much taller than the modern day three story building. Many, if not all, of the third floor rooms had vaulted ceilings, which added even more to the structure's height. The fortress looked all the more ominous in the dark of night, the moon's rays blotted out by the thick cloud cover. I could tell where the moon was, since the light was the strongest coming from behind the clouds there, and it was just to the right of the peak in the middle of the castle, where the throne room was located. The throne room's ceiling went straight to the roof of the castle, with the rooms situated around it. Not even the moon could spy on the affairs of the Volturi that night, our arrival a secret to all those who needed to know.

We pulled through the midnight black wrought iron gates and small town outside the castle, slowing down to about fifty going through the small one-way street and the little vixen trotting ahead of us. We followed her through the residential part of the town before we reached the front entrance to the castle, the large doors opening just as we pulled to a stop. The vixen sat down right in front of our car and we stepped out. I slowly walked up to her and kneeled down just behind her, watching in fascination as she turned her head to look at me, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"I want to apologize for what happened earlier," I whispered, so just the two of us would hear it. Confusion passed through her eyes so fast, I doubted if I even really saw it. "You're the first being I've met that I haven't been able to read, and I'll willingly admit that my curiosity got the better of me." She just looked at me for a moment, before slowly nodding her head. There was a bit of hesitation in the movement, like she didn't want to acknowledge my apology, but did it anyway. I could still see her hatred simmering in her eyes, burning away at any other emotion that tried to come forward, but it seemed nothing like what it had been before. It wasn't the inferno Jasper had felt before. I nodded in return and stood, taking a step back to give her space. I looked up just as three figures appeared in the doorway, flanked on each side by one more. The fox stood and trotted over to the vampire all the way to the left of the procession, whom I quickly recognized as Demetri, and he knelt down to greet her.

"Vixen, I see you've succeeded once again, huh?" he asked, smiling down at her. She yipped and jumped into his arms, settling across his shoulders. He rubbed the spot between her ears playfully and she nipped at his hand.

"Hey, no biting, little sister," he scolded half-heartedly, and she licked his finger in apology, her ears back. It was a strange sight, looking back at how she reacted to us when she met us at the airport.

I looked into Demetri's mind just as he replayed some of the other moments like this he had had with her, and reflected on his decision to adopt the little creature as his baby sister. I learned from his mind that her name at the castle was Vixen, but he knew that wasn't her actual name. He went over the details of the mission today, relieved that nothing had gone wrong, and then his thoughts turned to me and what I could have said to her as they approached. He didn't think it was anything bad, so he decided to just ask her later about it, and how the rest of the mission went. He still wasn't all that happy about me being near her, reflecting on her distrust of everyone but himself, but he wasn't going to say anything if my presence didn't bother her enough for her to voice it. A voice brought me back to my own mind and I looked at the three figures at the front of the group. Aro, Caius, and Marcus stood in their black cloaks, looking at the group in front of them.

"Welcome, dear friends!" Aro, exclaimed, taking in the whole group. He looked no different than the last time I saw him, of course, but I still couldn't share his obvious pleasure in seeing us. "It is a pleasure to have you here with us after so long. We have much to catch up on, but for now, Demetri and my little Vixen will show you to your rooms." I chanced a glance at Vixen to see her reaction to Aro's wording, and noticed the angry flick of her tail and set of her ears, the tension in her jaw as she held herself back from growling. I didn't need Jasper to tell me Aro was the source of her immense hatred of vampires, and I couldn't blame her for it. I had no idea what he had put her through, but as I looked upon her small, trembling form on Demetri's shoulders, I knew I would be doing everything I could to find out.


	6. Chapter 5 Confusion

_Chapter 5: Confusion_

As Aro and the others said their farewells to their "good friends," I couldn't help but reflect back on what that one vampire had said earlier, or really _done_. It defied everything I thought about vampires—except Demetri—and it bothered me to no end. For the past six years, I had my opinion about vampires, about how they're selfish, cruel, ruthless, lustful, arrogant bastards who had a superiority complex, and it took one short conversation with a vampire I didn't even know the name of to plant a small—like, microscopic—seed of doubt in my mind about my opinion.

"This way, everyone," Demetri said, waving a hand in the direction of the staircase leading up to the guest rooms in the West wing of the castle, and my own. The guard members had rooms in the East and South wings, with the North wing at the back of the castle remaining empty most of the time.

Demetri continued to pet my head as he walked, and I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me from my perch across his shoulders. I turned to look behind us to see the bronze-haired vampire from the yellow Porsche looking straight at me with a look of confusion on his face. I glared at him and he blinked, looking away with a look of . . . shame and apology? I could feel my curiosity grow in regard to this vampire, as well as my interest in who he was. I quickly obliterated the feelings, making my hatred flare up to replace them. I moved my hate-filled glare over the rest of the group, letting them know I wanted no part of any of them. One blondish vampire completely ignored me, pushing to the front of the group and wrapping herself around the bronze one. The disgust was evident on his face as he kept his gaze away from her as she continued to walk and press his arm in between her barely contained breasts, arching her body against his. We reached the top of the staircase and Demetri paused, turning to look at the twelve vampires behind him.

"These are the guest rooms. The only one you cannot have is the one at the very end of the hall on the left. Otherwise, you may have your pick of the other nine vacant ones. If you would rather have a room in a different wing, you may ask. There are three empty rooms in the East wing, and four in the South. I will remain here until you are settled, so I can report to the Masters that their guests are comfortable," Demetri said, his hand rising to pet me again. They nodded and worked their way down the hall to the rooms, two of the females stopping by Demetri, but keeping their distance when I looked at them.

"Excuse us," the brown-haired one said slowly, batting her eyelashes at Demetri, "we would like to look at the other rooms, if we may." He nodded and looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"Vixen, will you stay here and make sure everyone is settled while I show these two ladies the other rooms?" he asked, and I nodded, giving him a look that plainly said to be careful. He smiled and kissed my furry cheek before kneeling so I could jump down. "Don't worry about me, little sister," he whispered, so low only the two of us could possibly hear. "I know _all_ about these two, as well as the other one trying to get herself in Edward's bed." He seemed to realize the male name meant nothing to me, and looked towards the bronze-haired vampire being smothered by the strawberry bimbo. "You may have to save him from being stuck in a room with her." I tilted my head, obviously asking him why I would do that, but he just chuckled and shook his head, standing and waving for the two females to follow him. I huffed in annoyance, something I seemed to be doing more and more often in this form, and turned to watch as the rest of them picked their rooms.

The blonde-haired male and the chestnut-haired female took the first room on the left, the other apparent leader and his mate taking the one directly across the hall. The pixie-like female and her mate took the second one on the left, while the rather large male and his super model blonde took the room directly across the hall. I walked forward, making sure they seemed happy with their rooms, but not going so far as to ask them, and sat down behind the last two, Edward and the vamp who apparently didn't understand his lack of interest.

"So, Eddie, which room would you like?" she asked, rubbing herself against him. He took a step away, but she didn't let go and took the step with him, effectively using the momentum to rub her breasts up each side of his arm. His look of disgust humored and surprised me at the same time, the look on his face funny, but confusing, since it seemed like all of the vampires I knew—sans Demetri, most of the time—were like horny teenagers when it came to sex. They never said no. Edward looked over his shoulder for assistance, but all of the other vampires were in their respective rooms with their mates. He noticed me sitting behind them and pried the blonde off his arm.

"Go pick the room, Tanya," he said icily, but she didn't seem to take notice of his tone. I took note of his word choice and tried to stay silent as Blondie turned to give me a glare, clearly telling me to keep away from her man. I snapped my teeth in her direction and snarled, making her jump and growl back, fangs shining even in the dim light. Something about her rubbed me the wrong way, and I decided I wasn't going to hold back my intense dislike of vampires when it came to her until someone ordered me to. She looked back at Edward, dumbfounded.

"You'd rather stand here with that flea-ridden beast than pick out our room, Eddie?" she asked, trying to sound innocent and sexy. In reality, she sounded desperate and needy.

"Yes. And my name _is not Eddie_, it's Ed_ward_," Edward responded slowly, turning his back on her and stopping in front of me. She just huffed and stormed into the closest room, slamming the door behind her. He looked away from the now firmly closed door and down at me.

"I guess that means I won't be invited, or dragged, in there today, I hope," he said, shaking his head. I tried to keep in a laugh, trying to remember what he was, and succeeded, thankfully. He didn't comment on my silence, instead walking towards the room farthest from the one Strawberry went into that was still empty, and gently pushed the door open. It happened to be the one right across from mine . . . Lucky me.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, looking at me from against the wall where he was leaning, his face turned towards the inside of the room. I could see his eyes darting around as he took in what he could see of the room from his current position, and decided to project. It was strange, but the more he talked to me, the more I heard his voice like he was talking to an equal, the more my hatred and rage seemed to abate. I knew it wasn't completely disappearing, but he was making it recede enough for me to feel curiosity towards him, an interest strong enough to make me walk towards him and answer, instead of staying in the relative safety that ten feet of space between us gave me.

_I believe you just did, but I suppose you may ask another. Just do not forget, I will only answer if I want to, so you still may not get the response you so desire_, I said icily, making him look down at me. He seemed surprised by my new position so close to him, but quickly wiped the emotion off his face. I was just as surprised as he was, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I passed off my closing the distance as me just getting closer because we were having a conversation. I decided I was going to talk to my parents about this. Maybe they would know what was going on with me, willingly getting so close to a vampire . . .

"When we first saw you in the airport," Edward started, bringing me back to the present, "your eyes were a dark orange. Not a few minutes later, they were like silver, almost white. What makes that happen? Now that I'm asking, and looking at dark orange again, I'm guessing it would be your emotions." He tilted his head and waited for me to answer. I sighed in annoyance and distrust, feeling my ribs expand and contract with the motion.

_You are correct_, I answered. _It is something that comes with being what I am_. I knew I was being vague, but I didn't feel like giving away what wasn't demanded of me. He gave me a crooked smile that . . . did _something_ . . . to me, before turning and slowly walking into the room. I sat in the doorway and watched as he examined the room, from the ceiling to the floor.

"Should I wait until another time to ask you exactly what you are?" he asked, still looking around. "I don't want to ask too many questions and scare you away."

_Whether you ask me yourself or wait until you meet with the Masters tomorrow, you will eventually find out_, I responded with disinterest, leaving the decision up to him. I couldn't care less either way, and raised my paw to my mouth and began to clean it to show him how little I really cared. He nodded once, stopping by the window on the far side of the room. I assumed he was debating whether or not to ask, since he said nothing until he turned back around and walked towards me again.

"I don't want to offend you in any way, shape, or form, but I think I'd rather have the knowledge that I took the time to ask you personally, rather than finding out from someone who will probably only disclose the information for the apparent bragging rights that come with it. Would you mind telling me?" he asked, gesturing for me to enter as he asked. I looked up into his face and tilted my head, examining the emotions in his eyes.

It was the easiest way for me to read someone I had no connection with, and he was hiding nothing from me in his eyes. I saw the sincere curiosity like a spark, an interest in me that I hadn't seen since Aro forced the abilities of my people from my throat. Edward's interest, though, was so much more honest . . . _genuine_, in his interest in _me_, rather than what I am. He wasn't asking because he wanted to know what I could do, he was asking about something that made me who I was, and his eyes told me that. He looked at me like a person, instead of some rarity to collect and abuse for personal gain.

_I guess I will enlighten you. Like I already explained, you will most likely find out anyway_, I said, slowly standing and walking into his room. He closed the door behind me, but left it open enough so that I could easily slip out if I felt I needed to. I felt something tug in me at the gesture, but quickly squashed whatever it was by reminding myself of the other encounters I've had with his kind. He was still a vampire, even if he was different than those I have so far encountered, and I needed to remember that.

I walked over to the desk that mirrored the one in my own room, a deep mahogany with a wooden chair. I went to jump into it, but calculated a jump that would leave me with quite the nasty bump if I did it. I sat down with a humph, pasting my ears back in annoyance and stared at the chair, as if the force of my will would pull it out like the will of these vampires controlled me. I grabbed one of the chair legs angrily with my teeth, dragging it backwards until it was safe for me to jump into it. Edward chuckled quietly at me and turned it so I wouldn't have to look at him through the bars. I jumped up and sat down on the very edge of the chair and he sat on the couch next to the desk, at the end closest to me, and just stared with open curiosity. I shifted uncomfortably under his attention with my eyes narrowed in distrust, not used to someone staring at me without lust in their eyes, and he seemed to realize the source of my fidgeting.

"Oh, sorry," he said, turning away. "They saw curiosity killed the cat, but apparently it might kill the vampire if I don't cut it out." I stared right at him when I answered, showing him I wasn't going to let my defenses down around him, no matter how he acted.

_I thought it took more than just curiosity to kill a vampire_, I said, my tone flat. He smiled, ignoring my lack of emotion.

"At this point, I think I'd be an exception." He sighed and leaned back on the couch, and I stayed in my rigid position on the chair. I debated whether to show him my ability and let him guess for himself or tell him, but he spoke before I decided.

"Wait a minute . . ." he said slowly, leaning forward again, his mind seeming to be flying. I just sat there, not sure of what he had just realized. "Back at the airport . . . you mentioned—well, snarled—something . . . but I didn't even realize . . . You're . . . you said . . ." he paused again, shaking his head slowly before looking up at me. He stayed silent.

_Are we not feeling very articulate this morning, vampire?_ I asked, sounding snarky. He shook his head again.

"I just can't believe I missed it. You . . . you're some kind of . . . shape shifter, aren't you?" he finally asked, looking up at me. I waited a few seconds before nodding curtly. His face lit up at my assent.

"That's . . . that's amazing," he said slowly, looking at me with renewed curiosity. I didn't respond, and his face suddenly fell as he realized something else. He didn't leave me in the dark for very long.

"This power of yours . . . it's why you're here, isn't it? Aro is keeping you here for your power," he asked, and I tensed even more. He noticed the small shift and took it as a yes. I didn't wait for a response, though, jumping off the chair and darting around the door. I could feel him watching me from his doorway, but he didn't follow. Demetri rounded the corner just as I reached the end of the hall and I jumped on him, catching him off guard. He caught me anyway, used to me randomly launching myself at him, before he looked in the direction I had come from, seeing Edward standing there. I looked as well, and saw Edward staring at me with sadness in his eyes. He looked to Demetri and shook his head before turning back into his room and shutting the door.

"Did he hurt you?" Demetri asked, picking me up and looking me over for injuries. I shook my head.

_No, brother, he just had a question that led to another. He ended up guessing what I was, and it led him to think that my ability is why I'm here. I didn't want him trying to dig any deeper, so I ran. I couldn't even respond when he said that_, I explained, curling up against his chest. A wave of exhaustion washed over me and I closed my eyes as he continued to hold me.

"Edward is very intuitive. It doesn't surprise me that he would be able to put everything together like you said he did," Demetri said.

_I slipped when I spoke to him at the airstrip. He asked if Aro told me of their dietary choice, and I mentioned that I was both human and animal, so it didn't really matter to me what they chose. He remembered me saying that when he asked what I was._ I yawned silently and he rubbed the back of my ear.

"You have nothing to worry about, Vix. Edward is a good person. I have known him for quite some time. I would trust him to protect you if something were to happen to me," Demetri said, walking down the stairs with me to tell Aro and the others that the guests were settled. I nipped at his chin, suddenly wide awake.

_Don't talk like that! I don't know what I would do if something happened to you_, I said sadly, rubbing my face against his chest. He kissed the top of my head and rubbed his hand against my cheek, lulling me back into a state of calm.

"I know. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you either. I think my only peace would come from the fact that you would no longer be stuck here," he whispered, stopping outside a door and knocking three times. I looked up at him, the movement bringing his gaze down to me as he waited for a response from inside the room.

_Would you really trust him with me, Demetri? You truly think I would be safe with him?_ I asked, watching his eyes. He smiled down at me and nodded, his longish dark hair falling forward with the movement.

"He is not one to be afraid of, Vixen. He is safe, and yes, I would trust him to care for you. He held tightly to the morals he grew up with, and I know for a fact he would never even think of doing what these other vampires here do to you on a whim. I think you will learn eventually to trust him like you trust me, but I want you to gain that feeling for him on your own. Let him give you reasons to trust him. It will make your connection stronger if you do. Just look at us," he said, gesturing towards my position in his arms. I shook my head and draped myself across his shoulders, putting him between myself and Aro. Demetri was used to me doing this by now, and rubbed my head quickly before the door opened. He stepped inside and the vampire who opened the door closed it behind us.

"Demetri, Vixen, I assume our guests are comfortable?" Aro said from a high backed chair, and Demetri nodded in affirmation. He was sitting at a desk similar to those in the guest rooms, and his brothers were at their own. The room was about the size of a bedroom, but slightly larger, and the brothers shared it as a kind of study. Each of them had their own rooms that they shared with their wives—or me—that were parts of a suite, but the Volturi business was always dealt with in this room. A large rectangular table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by chairs. That was where the brothers met with other coven leaders or nomads for discussions of business. The two covens that just arrived would probably meet with them in here when Aro called for them.

"Vixen, please come here," he said, trying to sound polite. I knew better, though. Even though he sounded like he was asking, it was not something I could refuse.

Demetri bent down for a moment and I jumped from his shoulders gracefully, landing with just a slight _click_ of my nails against the ceramic tiled floor. I slowly walked to him, trying to keep my tail from tucking itself between my legs, and stopped right in front of him. He patted his lap and I fought the urge to bite his leg and run, knowing I would get nowhere even if I tried. I jumped lightly onto his lap and stood there, and it took only one look from him to make me sit. I was extremely uncomfortable sitting in his lap, my paws closer to his crotch than I would have—well, I never would have liked it. He obviously didn't mind one little bit, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Now, Vixen, you know what I am going to ask of you. Just bring down your shield so I can see how everything went with the mission," he said gently, but I knew as soon as he touched me and saw my shield blocking him from my mind, he would become much more violent and harsh in his demands. It didn't stop me from trying to keep my mind private, though. It was the only place I actually felt safe when I was around anyone but Aro, and even then, I wouldn't pass up the chance to have him just give up without forcing me. He never did.

He took my left paw in his hand, the contact with the pads on my feet working like him touching a human's—or vampire's—skin. I flinched as his freezing flesh pressed against me, but he didn't let go. I felt him poke at my mind with his conscience, the same feeling I had when Edward tried, and he did so for less than a second before he withdrew. I could feel his anger from the rising tension in his body and prepared for whatever he was going to do, crying out when he suddenly crushed my paw in his large hand. I could actually feel the fragments of bone poking me underneath my skin, some of them coming through. He grabbed my upper arm in the other, applying enough pressure so that I felt every creak in the bone as it slowly broke in half. I could hear Demetri saying something over and over again, something about just letting him in, but my pain quickly erased anything my mind tried to understand. Aro roughly grabbed me around the neck, forcing me to look at him as he gave me the order I had expected from the beginning.

"You _will_ let your shield down _now_, you filthy little _bitch_!" he roared, his grip on my throat tightening even more. I could feel the vertebrae in my spine groaning and my windpipe constricting under the pressure, my breaths wheezing gasps as I attempted to stay conscious. I felt my shield dropping, but shoved it back up with all my might, the drops of blood coming from my mouth and nose telling me I was fighting successfully, but not for much longer.

"_NOW!_" he roared again, shaking me to the point where I couldn't see straight. My shield fell with a snap, ripping from my hold on it, and my body slumped in Aro's grip. He let go of my arm, but kept the grip on my neck as he dove into my thoughts, examining everything that happened since my paws ran out the front door to Demetri and my conversation before we walked in. Aro gave me a Cheshire cat grin, letting me see the elongated canines visible at the corners of his mouth.

"Now, was that so hard, my little Vixen?" he asked, sounding decent and gentle again. I stayed perfectly still except for the rapid movement of my chest as I tried to breathe past the still collapsing of my trachea. He flicked his finger against one of my ribs, cleanly breaking it and making me whimper. It was the best I could do with the small amount of air I had available to make noise. He suddenly threw me to the floor at his feet, and I landed in my broken arm. I whimpered again as I felt another broken rib or two, these on the other side, and coughed to clear my throat.

"You were not pleasant towards our guests, little Vixen, and you know I cannot let that go unpunished," he whispered, looking down at me and thinking. He pushed me over with his foot until I was on my side, never taking his eyes off my pain-filled ones.

"Demetri, when I have finished punishing her, please take her up to her room. I do not wish for her to stain the carpet. And I do not want you staying there with her. You will put her in her room and leave. Your presence would diminish the effect of the punishment, I think." I knew he didn't mean raping me, since he thought I enjoyed that too much to use it as punishment, but it didn't help curb the feelings of dread and fear that washed over me. Demetri didn't respond, but I knew he wouldn't risk Aro hurting me more just to comfort me one time. We both knew it was dangerous to be as close as we were.

Aro continued to stare at me, like he was debating what to do first, when he suddenly kicked me hard enough to break the rest of my ribs on my right side. I gasped, but it was cut off by more pain from the movement. Black spots appeared in my vision as Aro lifted me off the floor, demanding that I change to human form and kicking one of my thighs hard enough to hear an audible snap as soon as I did so. The last thing I felt was his talon-like nails raking deeply from my left shoulder to my right hip, and the beginning of the explosive pain that plunged my into blissful darkness.


	7. Chapter 6 A Promise

_***Rated M Content Mentioned***_

_Chapter 6: A Promise_

I sat in my room on the bed, my head in my hands, as I thought about what I found out when I talked to Vixen. Even though she didn't vocally confirm what I said, her reaction and Demetri's thoughts said it all. I would have said it was hard to believe Aro would keep her here just for her ability, but I would be lying. Every vampire knew Aro was a collector; he has been after Alice, Jasper, and I since he first found out about our abilities. Since we politely declined every time, he now made sure our clan visited him regularly, so he could keep track of us and our abilities. Vixen didn't have that option. I didn't have the specifics as to how she ended up here, but she was definitely not allowed to leave. With the raw hatred she showed us because of her relationship with the vampires here, I wondered why she hadn't tried to leave yet, and how long she had actually been kept against her will. I sighed and sat on the couch, wishing the room had a window, but not desperate enough to take the room next to Tanya that did. Instead, I decided to grab a book out of my bag, which had—somehow—ended up in this very room. Not wanting to contemplate how someone knew I would end up in this room before we even showed up, I laid down on the couch, my feet propped up on the arm rest, and opened the book. I didn't even look at the title, and the words quickly became black blurs as my eyes became unfocused. I sighed loudly and let the book fall on my chest, boredom sweeping over me.

_Edward, heads up!_ Alice's thoughts rang through my head. I jumped up into a sitting position, my forgotten book tumbling to the floor with a soft _thump_. _Demetri is heading up to the room across the hall from you with a girl. She's severely injured. You'll need to do what you can to patch her up. There are medical supplies under the sink in the bathroom; everything you will need is in there. Carlisle and Esme have gone out by themselves to hunt, and he'll be there in less than a minute._ I nodded to myself and dashed across the hall, heading straight for the bathroom. I grabbed the large red case from what looked like a mini fridge under the sink and opened it, quickly glancing over the contents.

Pain meds, sutures, gauze pads, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, IV lines, bags of fluid, pressure bandages . . . It was a hospital in a big red box. I picked it up by the bottom, not even bothering to close it, and set it on the bed, yanking the desk chair over and moving the box there instead. Demetri came through the door I had left open and set the young woman down in the middle of the bed. Her eyes flinched as he tried to gently maneuver her out of his arms, but her battered form gave no other indication of feeling pain. I looked up at Demetri, who was staring at the girl like his world was ending. His head whipped around to look at me, his eyes pleading with me to do something as he backed slowly out of the room.

"I have been forbidden to stay with her. Edward, please help her. She will heal on her own in time, but there is just . . . just too much. She is an immortal, but she is so much more . . . _fragile_ than we are . . . Help her start healing, Edward. I do not know when I will be allowed to see her again, so it is up to you to care for her until I can without fear of her being punished for it," Demetri rambled, his usually firm voice cracking. I nodded once, my face set with the determination I felt to help my friend and this girl. She was important to him.

"Aro did this to her?" I asked, he being the only suspect I had. He nodded once, his chest heaving in emotional pain. "I will do what I can until you return to her, my friend. She is in safe hands now, you know that," I said, trying to reassure him. He nodded a sad smile on his face.

"Yes, I know." He left, leaving me with the girl lying on the bed in front of me. When I finally took count of her injuries, I was appalled that she hadn't died from them.

What caught my attention first were the jagged, bleeding gashes running from her shoulder to her opposite hip, the small amount of fabric that had been on now shredded to even smaller pieces that barely covered her chest. The slashes were wide and still steadily bleeding, but the blood didn't affect me like I thought it would. It smelled pleasant, but there was something that curbed any and all desire to drink it. Her entire torso was a large, deep purple bruise, telling me that many, if not all, of her ribs were fractured or broken.

I let my gaze travel down her body to her legs, where more gashes glared an angry and seeping red. They didn't look as deep as the others, more like flesh wounds, but they obviously hurt. Her left leg looked broken at the calf, either her tibia or fibula fractured cleanly from the look of the bruising on her leg. I looked back up her body, noticing the broken zipper and missing button on her jeans and feeling my heart fall into my stomach. I took a deeper breath and could smell fresh blood coming from that area. My stomach seized at the implications, but I kept examining her, knowing I wasn't done.

Her left hand was completely shattered, small fragments of bone actually poking through her skin. I could tell from the bluish-purple color of the flesh that there was a very good chance that every single bone on her hand had been badly broken. The humerus of her opposite arm was clearly broken, a perfect impression of a large hand wrapping around the break. The same impression stared at me from around her neck, as well as the symbol marking her as the Volturi's property. I was happy to see her face was untouched, but when I actually _looked_ at her face, I felt the unneeded air in my lungs leave me in a loud _whoosh_.

She was pale, but it seemed to fit her. It wasn't a sickly shade; it just looked like she hadn't been in the sun for a while. She had dark brown hair, and when the light of the rising sun coming in her window touched the tresses, there was a hint of red that would wink in and out of sight. The matted strands framed a heart-shaped face that I just couldn't take my eyes off of. Even as twisted in pain as it was, her face was enchanting. Her lashes lightly brushed the tops of her cheeks and her bottom lip was full and slightly pouty. Her eyes were closed, but I took a wild guess that they would be the same shifting color as the little fox I had become so interested in. Demetri's actions as well as his words when he brought her were enough to tell me who this was, as well as Vixen's confirmation that she was a shape shifter. As I looked down at the beautiful young woman on the bed, I felt a wave of depression at the change from the tough little fox she had been to the broken woman before me. I opened my phone and called Alice, knowing I would need help, especially if she had been raped. I couldn't in good conscience touch a woman in such an intimate place while she was unconscious, and especially without her consent.

"I'm on my way, Edward," Alice said as soon as she picked up.

"Thanks, Alice," I said, quickly hanging up and going to the bathroom to grab some washcloths. I found a pile of them in the cabinet and quickly filled a small bowl from under the sink with warm water.

Carefully but quickly bringing it over to the bedside table, I set it down and grabbed a small vile of morphine and a syringe from the first aid kit. I drew some of the pain medication into the syringe and turned her left arm until the hollow of her elbow was facing up. She trembled for a moment as her shattered hand shifted with the movement. I apologized over and over until she stopped, and I quickly gave her the dose of medication straight into a vein in her elbow. She didn't seem to feel the small amount of added pain, the sensations of the other wounds being too strong and overpowering it. Alice came in as I was removing the shredded bits of material from the wounds across her torso, and she gasped when she saw how badly Vixen was hurt. From what I could tell, the shirt had been one of those with a lot of decorative rips that was usually worn with an undershirt of some sort. The shoulders and the neck of the shirt had been made of the strips, the shirt only solid over her chest. I discovered a strapless bra underneath that was just as badly ripped as the shirt it was under. I left it on her for decency's sake, knowing I'd ask Alice to clean up the small part of the gash underneath.

"Alice, I think she was raped," I said, waving in the direction of her jeans. Alice looked and noticed what I did, hissing under her breath.

I just nodded my agreement as I dipped one of the cloths in the water, squeezing out the excess and gently cleaning the wounds on her shoulder. I tried to wipe the blood away as gently as I could, but I could see her face twitching as her body tried to express the pain it was in while she fought to keep it hidden. She didn't look like she was in nearly as much pain as she was as the morphine finally took effect, but she was still hurting.

"I need you to clean her up from that, and the small section her bra is covering. I want to stitch these up, and possibly the ones on her legs," I explained. I glanced at Alice as she nodded, moving up to where I was working.

"Let's get these cleaned so you can stitch them while I clean up her legs," she said, knowing I'd know exactly what she was talking about.

I finished up the bottoms of the long slashes at her hip and turned to the wounds on her legs as Alice cleaned her chest. We cleaned up the rest of the blood and I started loosely stitching up her chest as Alice used her nail to cut Vixen's pants from her hips down each of the legs, removing the material in two pieces. She growled again as she surveyed the damage, but kept her mind blocked from me. I concentrated on what I was doing and trying to keep my eyes off Vixen's now exposed chest as Alice dabbed her cloth in the water sitting next to me, but I could still see the large amount of blood washing out of the material. I immediately draped a towel over her chest when I finished the area and continued on. She came back two more times to rinse the cloth, and I felt my anger growing even more each time. The only good thing she was able to tell me was that she didn't think Vixen had been raped, but Aro had definitely "coped a violent feel," as Alice put it. She draped a soft towel over her, not wanting to press anything against the injured area just yet. As I finished up the last of the four wounds, I heard her heart rate increase and stood up, standing over her but not so close as to scare her.

"Vixen, it's Edward. If you can hear me, please try not to move. You've been severely injured, and Demetri had to leave you with me. My sister and I are trying to clean you up and help speed up your healing as much as possible, but I haven't set any of you broken bones," I said gently, trying to keep her updated, but not scare her too much. I heard her heart increase even more, and gently put my hand on her left shoulder.

"Vixen, please calm down. You're safe with us. We're not going to hurt you," I whispered, running my thumb over the bare skin. "If you could try to sleep while I set your broken bones, it might hurt less. Either that, or I could give you more morphine." At the mention of the pain meds, her head twitched to the side and her breathing hitched. "Okay, no morphine," I said quickly, and she immediately calmed down some. "I do suggest you try to sleep, though. I can only guess but I'm pretty sure it'll speed up your healing and keep you from feeling most of this." She didn't respond at first, contemplating my suggestion, but tried to calm her breathing. Her body was still tense, letting me know she wasn't unconscious yet, and I took the time to examine her legs again.

The wounds didn't look nearly as bad now that they were cleaned, but they were still an angry red. I decided to just coat them in antibacterial ointment and cover them in gauze before wrapping them loosely in bandages. The mention of ointment reminded me that I should spread it over the stitched wounds and looked to Alice, finding her in the corner of the room. I could see from the set of her shoulders that this was upsetting her.

"Alice, you don't have to stay. I can handle the rest," I said, turning from Vixen for a moment. She nodded and ran from the room, not saying anything. I sighed softly and moved the towel over her breasts for a moment, squeezing a large amount of the ointment onto my fingers.

"I know you aren't sleeping yet, so I just want you to know I'm going to be applying some ointment to the wounds on your torso, but two of them touch your chest. I'm not doing anything inappropriate, and I would have asked Alice, but she . . . got slightly emotional," I said, listening to her heart rate decrease as I talked. I got a strange sense of satisfaction from that fact, and proceeded on with her treatment, making a thick trail of gauze pads following the lines of her injuries before draping the towel over her again. I tried my best not to apply any pressure as I treated her, seeing as the gashes happened to cut into the extremely bruised flesh, but I could see her holding back flinches of pain often as I did what I had to.

I wrapped up her legs, leaving it loose for when they were healed, before looking at the two massive breaks she had. I figured I would just set them and wrap them somewhat tightly to keep the bone from moving, and thought of something else. I walked up next to her head and leaned down again, giving her a second to realize I was there before speaking.

"Vixen, I need to ask you something. I want you to squeeze my hand once for yes, and twice for no. Can you do that for me?" I asked, slipping my hand into her uninjured one. She didn't respond at first, but I felt the very faint twitch of her hand as she tried to do as I asked.

"Okay, do you have any injuries on your back?" One squeeze. "Are they serious enough that they need care?" Two squeezes. I sighed in relief that I wouldn't have to move her with all of the broken ribs she had, but I still had to set the broken bones in her leg and arm. There wasn't a whole lot I could do about her hand without surgery except clean the small wounds from the splintered bones coming through her skin, and all of her broken ribs had to be set to help her heal. I decided I would set her arm and leg, and if it wasn't too painful already, I would attempt to set at least a few of her ribs.

"Vixen, I'm going to set the bone in your leg now. I can't promise it won't hurt, because it will, but I wanted to warn you before I started," I said gently, waiting for another twitch in her hand that told me she understood. I got one after a few seconds of hesitation, and nodded to myself, gently taking my hand out of hers and grabbing two rolls of pressure bandages.

I walked to the end of the bed and gently ran one of my hands over her calf, feeling for the amount of damage I was dealing with. Thankfully, only the shin bone was broken, so I would only have to worry about setting one. I tried to move the bone into place as quickly and painlessly as possible, raising and wrapping it tightly in less than five seconds before placing it gently back on the bed again, taking one of the man pillows littering the floor to rest it on, but Vixen still cried out in pain. The sound stabbed at me as her eyes shot open and her body attempted to arch in reaction, causing her even more pain as her ribs shifted. I grabbed the other bandage roll and sat at her side, putting my hand in hers again and trying to get her to stay still.

"Vixen, please, I know it hurts, but please try to stay still. Moving will only hurt more," I said, softly but quickly, trying to fight past the wave of pain I could clearly see on her face. I could feel her trying to latch onto my hand as she fought to stay still, but her tightened muscles as she did so didn't help. I could see her injured hand trying to make a fist, the small punctures getting larger and beginning to bleed.

I let go of her hand and set her arm, wrapping it tightly like with her leg before her body could tense up more and make the bone shift. She cried out louder when the fresh wave of pain hit her and I put my hand back in hers, letting her squeeze it. Her hand was warm in mine, the difference in our body temperatures blatantly noticeable. It gave me an idea of how to help her as I repeatedly apologized, my thumb caressing the back of her hand. I took my free hand and gently placed it over one side of her ribs, the burning skin feeling like it was searing my hand. She flinched at the sudden cool touch, but I immediately felt a change in her when her grip lessened on my hand. Her body seemed to sigh in relief, so I took my other hand from hers and gently placed it on her other side, the skin getting hotter and hotter as her body prepared to heal itself.

I watched her face as her now black eyes lost focus from pain that was, thankfully, lessening by the moment even as her breathing caused the broken ends of her ribs to push against my hands. Her whole body slumped against the mattress as her pain finally eased to a tolerable level and I let my own body slump in relief. I had done everything I knew to care for her, and it was amazing to see her finally able to relax. I decided to leave for now, to let her rest and heal some in the privacy of what I assumed to be her room.

"Vixen, I'm going to let you rest, okay? I'll be back to check on you later—" I stopped as her breathing hitched and increased, the black of her eyes getting even darker as her rapid breathing caused her pain again.

"Shh, okay, okay, I won't leave," I said quickly, moving closer to her on the bed so her hip touched mine. Her heart rate quickly decreased as she calmed down again, reassured by the increased contact. Or at least that's what I assumed. The entire time I had been caring for her, I kept my mind open to hers, but there wasn't a single peep from the fortress that was her. I had to rely on the old-fashioned method of reading her body language. I sighed and looked down at her, noticing the goose bumps appearing across her skin from my touch. I went to take my hands from her sides to put the blanket at the foot of her bed over her, but she whimpered as soon as my hands left her skin.

"Hang on, Vixen. I'm making you cold, so I want to grab a blanket for you," I said as she continued to whimper. I quickly got up and grabbed the fleece blanket and draped it over her trembling form before I sat next to her again. I could see her pleading with me to ease her pain again, but I couldn't think of a way to do it without freezing her. As sick as it was with her being in the condition she was, I couldn't help but like the feeling of her flesh under my hands, how her skin molded around my touch like an embrace and the heat of her body transferred to me wherever we touched. I still didn't want to make her cold as she tried to heal herself, no matter how much I enjoyed touching her. I suddenly got an idea and brushed her sweaty hair back from her face to get her attention. When her eyes focused on me, I gave her a hesitant smile.

"Vixen, I was thinking if I put this blanket between us and laid you on me on your stomach, you wouldn't have direct contact with the coolness of my skin, but you would get enough to help with the pain and swelling. I would have to lift you, which would hurt, so it's up to you," I said, putting my hand in hers so she could tell me her decision. It didn't take long for her to answer, her one flinch telling me she was willing to try.

"Okay, this is going to hurt, so be prepared," I said, as I removed my shirt to have one less barrier between her wounds and the coolness of my skin. At least, that's what I told myself . . .

I draped it over the desk chair before gently picking Vixen up, making sure the blanket stayed in place. I was careful not to put pressure on her broken arm as I held her and lifted the covers she had been laying on before slipping under them, laying my head on her pillow and settling her on my chest. Her head rested just below my collar bone, the soft fleece pressed against the side of her face between us. Her hair fell over her shoulder and brushed against my skin as I loosely wrapped my arms around her, encircling the area of her ribs. I put her sheet between my arms and her back and sighed as she completely relaxed on top of me.

As she fell asleep, her breathing evening out and her heart rate slowing slightly, I looked upon her small form. I had brought the blankets up so her head was almost covered to shield her from the moonlight coming in her window, but I could still see the small wrinkles between her brows that told me she wasn't completely pain-free. I wasn't surprised at all by that fact with the amount and extent of the injuries I had just seen. I felt anger welling up in me again as I thought of what Aro had done to her. I hadn't thought to search Demetri's mind for the reason behind such an attack, but I didn't think anything short of murder would warrant the kind of damage that had been done to her.

"I promise you, Vixen," I said, whispering right into her ear as she continued to drift off, "I will do everything I can to keep this from happening again. I don't know why this happened or how I'll stop it, but I promise you, you will not experience pain like this again."


	8. Chapter 7 Explanations

_***Rated M Content Mentioned***_

_Chapter 7: Explanations_

Vixen was still asleep by the time the sun had made its way above the horizon, the sky a bright blue with the beginning of a new day. I had spent the rest of the night concentrating on her body temperature, making sure it didn't drop too low, and trying to think of what I could do to make sure Aro didn't lay another hand on her for whatever reason. I knew it would be close to, if not, impossible with his possessiveness in regard to what—or who—he saw as his property, but I was ready and willing to try. The only thing that concerned me, and also happened to be something I wanted to talk to Demetri about, was how Aro responded to someone sticking up for Vixen. If my butting in caused her to be hurt in response, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I knew he had been dealing with this longer than I had, so I wanted to have a talk with him before I tried to think of any kind of plan.

I looked down at the top of her head, wishing and praying with all my might to whoever would listen that she wouldn't have to deal with this much longer. I still didn't know how she got to be here, or how long it had been, but if she had been injured like this before, I thought it was safe to assume she had had enough by now.

I suddenly felt one of her ribs shift against my stomach and fought the urge to flinch. It was . . . strange, like something was crawling around under her skin. The bones didn't move very fast, or very far when they did, but it was something that would take a while to get used to. As far as I could tell, her ribs were the only injuries she still had. The broken bone in her leg had healed not long after she fell asleep, and the gashes on her legs before that. The flesh wounds seemed to heal much faster than the bones, which made sense, and I had felt the skin on her chest slowly knitting itself back together when it healed. Another rib popped as it moved around the others and back to where it belonged, bringing me out of my . . . reverie, I guess. Vixen healing from massive wounds to her body was not something I would call a daydream, even if she was laying on top of me as she did so. If she had been doing so for another reason, I wouldn't need to daydream about it.

And with that, I felt like freaking horny-assed teenager . . .

I let my head fall back onto the pillow with a soft _thump_ and let out a loud sigh. Vixen started at the sound, and groaned with the sudden movement. She kept her eyes closed and lifted her head, turning it so her forehead was against my chest, and sighed just as loudly as I did. I held in a chuckle, not wanting to startle her again. Her breath suddenly hitched into a gasp as another rib popped back into place, and she groaned in pain as the bone fused back together again. I rubbed her back soothingly, and she looked up at me, her eyes guarded. It pained me to see that look after everything that happened yesterday, but what happened was exactly the reason why she was like that, and I understood.

"Good morning," I said quietly, giving her a small smile. She didn't return it, but I didn't mind. Like I had just thought, I was the same kind of being as the one that put her in the condition she was brought to me in, but I was going to show her how truly different I was from the monster she called master.

"Four more ribs to heal, then _maybe_ it will be a good morning," she said, completely serious. She attempted to lift herself off of me, but flinched and groaned as a small crack echoed from her torso. She slowly lowered herself back down and sighed. "Now four and a half." I did chuckle then, but quickly stopped when she tensed from the rise and fall of my chest against her.

"Sorry about that," I whispered, trying to use as little air as possible so I wouldn't have to breathe. She just shook her head and rested it on me again, even though I could see she really didn't want to. "Did you want to get up?" I asked, moving my head in an attempt to see her face.

"You are not the most comfortable bed I've laid on, you know," she responded, trying to sound sarcastic and sharp like she had yesterday. The difference was the fire of anger and hatred that had burned behind her words seemed to have died down to a simmer. At least, as far as I was concerned. I gave her a sad smile.

"Unfortunately, it is a side effect of dying. Not that I had much of a choice about that to begin with," I said, trying to lighten her mood. Emotion passed through her dark blue eyes at my remark, something near confusion and bordering on interest, but she didn't comment. "Now, if you want, I can try to move you off, but I can't promise it won't hurt." She sighed again, her warm breath running over my bare skin.

"Fine. It can't be any worse than it was," she growled, closing her eyes. She opened them again as something crossed her mind, and looked at me. "You do realize I wouldn't have let you do what you did so easily if it hadn't been as bad as it was, right?" she asked. I nodded once.

"I wouldn't expect any different. And just in case you don't remember, because I don't know how much you do, I had my sister clean up your more . . . _intimate_ places. I didn't want to give you the wrong impression, which is why I also warned you of when I was going to have to run my hands over your chest to apply the antibiotic. I figured you wouldn't need it as far as infection, but it helped clean anything left behind and kept the skin around those stitches from drying out," I said calmly, wanting to make sure she knew of my intentions. "I'll have to remove them today, since you've mostly healed already, or I can have Alice do it so you're more comfortable," I added as an afterthought. She looked at me with pure confusion on her face, taking no measures to hide it. I quirked an eyebrow in question and she sighed angrily.

"Forget it. Just please get me off you," she spat, and I nodded. I removed my arms from around her and wrapped the edges of the blanket between us to mostly cover her bare skin. I left one arm around her and put the other across her lower back just above her rear to keep her flat against me.

"Trying to cop a feel before you let go?" she snarled, but that fire was still missing. It sounded like she didn't want to believe I was, but she had to ask anyway. She couldn't take the chance that I was without knowing before I did. I huffed and shook my head.

"No, I'm not. I'm trying to make sure you don't move too much when I turn us over so you will be on your back," I answered patiently. She huffed back.

"What's your excuse for not having a shirt on?" she snarled again, not ready to let her guard down just yet. Her harsh questioning of me was starting to get on my nerves, but I didn't want to lash out. Instead, I decided to explain myself to her in the hopes that she would just let me do what she asked without any more questions.

"My excuse," I began, letting her hear a small amount of annoyance in my voice, "is that I thought it would allow for more of the coolness of my skin to help the swelling and bruising around your ribs. And before you ask, the blanket is between us because the direct contact of our skin was making you cold, you are naked because my sister and I didn't think it would be good to put any kind of material against your skin, and no, as I already explained, I didn't touch you anywhere without letting you know what my intentions were before doing so. The only ones that touched you inappropriately last night without telling you were Aro and my sister, and my sister only because she was cleaning up the mess Aro left while you were unconscious. Is there anything I missed?" I asked, slightly sarcastic. She just narrowed her eyes and turned her head to the side so I couldn't see her face.

"Now that the third degree is over, I'm going to move now, so be prepared," I said, softer than before. She didn't respond at first, but gave me a small flinch of a nod a few seconds later. I held her tightly against my chest to keep her ribs still and quickly rolled so I was on my knees, tightening my grip on her hip so she didn't slide into my other arm when I did so. I gently lowered her onto the bed, watching her face for any signs of pain but not outright staring at her, and slipped out from under the blankets of her bed when she was settled.

"Alice brought food in earlier while you were still out," I said, gesturing to the bedside table. "We didn't know if you could eat, so she asked Demetri after she filled him in on how you were, and he told her what you like. Do you want anything?" She just laid there glaring at me and I shook my head in disbelief. Sure, I understood how she felt in regard to vampires, but this was getting ridiculous. If she wanted me to leave, she could have just said so. When her glaring increased in animosity, I realized I had accidentally voiced my thoughts.

"You may _think_ you understand, but you don't. You don't understand _anything_!" she spat, her chest rising and falling rapidly with her increasing rage. "You think just because of the condition you saw me in that you know exactly what goes on here, but you _don't_! Oh, but I know! Why don't you just _order me_ to tell you, like _anyone else here would!_ _My_ feelings don't stop _them_ from forcing me to do what they want! 'Don't fight me as I _rape you_,' they say! Enjoy _everything_ I do to you, _no matter how much it hurts_! Keep quiet as I _slice_ and _rip_ at your body _for my own enjoyment_! Kill this vampire, Vixen! Torture that human, Vixen! Threaten her, warn him, investigate this, destroy that! The best part is _I'm not allowed to say NO!_ It would make it _sooo _much easier to _care for me_ if you just _forced_ me to do what you want!" she screamed, her face contorted in fury and emotional pain. I tilted my head in confusion trying to sort through what she was saying.

"Vixen . . . I'm not going to _force_ you to do something you don't want to," I said quietly, almost like a whisper. "Is that the real reason you hate vampires so much? Because they've been forcing you to do things against your will?" Angry tears poured down her face as she shook her head. I waited for her to respond before I said anything else, not wanting for her to get the feeling of being forced like she apparently has. She swiped at her tears angrily and tried to sit up, letting out a yelp of pain before laying back down again. I didn't move to help her, knowing she would just flinch away from my touch at this point. Her body trembled with suppressed sobs as she stared up at the ceiling, wrapping her arms around her torso in an attempt to keep her healing bones still.

"I've been in this hell hole for _six fucking years_, and it's been the same _shit_ since day _one_," she sobbed out from between gritted teeth. I sat down at the very end of her bed and kept my hands in my lap, thinking that if I spoke, she would probably stop talking and we would get nowhere. When she stayed silent and just stared at the wall, I decided to change tactics.

"Vixen, you say I don't understand what you've been through, what you're _going_ through, so help me understand," I said, pleading with her. She continued to stare at the wall, but started shaking her head. "Help me understand, Vixen, so I can try to help you. So that I _can_ help you." A dark laugh echoed from her chest and she kept shaking her head, silent tears streaming down her face again.

"No one can help me, don't you see that?" she sobbed. "I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of eternity, or at least until they get bored and finish me off. You can't help me, Demetri can't help me, my own _parents_ can't help me." A light bulb went off over my head, and I decided to use the little bit she was telling me to see how far I could get into her telling me what was going on here, lead her into telling me the story she didn't want to waste the time to tell.

"Vixen, where are your parents?" I asked softly, trying to sound more confused than curious. If she thought I was curious, she would probably be able to figure out what I was doing. She let out another dark laugh, this one quieter than the other. She had a small, sad smile on her face.

"Four floors below us. The same place they've been for the past six years, just like me. I don't know who has it worse here, between the three of us, and I have no idea how the other two shifters they caught are. Aro was trying to break them since they're male, but Demetri hasn't told me anything since the last time I went down and visited Charlie and Renee." I knew she meant the dungeons, and I took another guess that they—her parents, that is—were being held as incentive for her automatic cooperation. I didn't understand how, but I was able to guess much of the story that she wasn't telling. I thought maybe it was my past experience with the Volturi and their ways of doing things, but I couldn't be sure. I couldn't get the nagging feeling that maybe it had something to do with what I felt at the airstrip, that immediate connection and impulse to get to know her, but it seemed more logical that it was the Volturi.

"Don't you get to see them?" She huffed.

"When Aro gives me permission. I haven't seen either one of them in two months." I sighed loudly and ran a hand through my hair, roughly tugging on the ends.

"What do you mean, you don't know who has it worse? Do you know what he does to them?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. She didn't notice though, her eyes unfocused as she thought.

"Aro keeps them weak and injured so they don't have enough energy to shift. The guards regularly hurt them so they are constantly healing. They have the same furnishings as I do, with a full bathroom and everything, but there are no windows, no breeze, just the stale, cold air of the dungeons. It was either that, or them living in a concrete cell with nothing but the floor. That was the last choice Aro ever gave me, was how I wanted my parents to live. I could either fight him in every way and have them live like prisoners, or I could agree to serve him and have them live like semi-comfortable prisoners. It wasn't really much of a choice." She huffed and shook her head, finally looking at me. Her dull blue eyes were blank, with sadness and anger trying to come forward as the color slowly changed to a dead brown.

"Vixen," I started, not sure how much she would tell me, "what keeps you from trying to escape? To leave and never look back?" I was being blatantly curious now, unable to hide the feeling even if I wanted to. She didn't seem to care about anything anymore as she answered my question.

"Aro has forbidden it, and if I try, he will kill both of my parents. I couldn't even if I wanted to. Being a female shifter, I can't say no to a male, apparently no matter what species they are. Until someone more dominant than Aro commands me to do something, or I find my mate, I have to do what he says. It physically hurts me if I try to fight against his orders," she explained, letting her head fall to the side so she was facing away from me. I thought over what she said, my mind stuck on the word _mate_. Aro let any and all of his guard members rape her, from what I could tell, so he must not be worried about her finding a mate in any of them. Or maybe he was hoping she would, so she could create more shifters for him to control. The only thing I could come up with was that there had to be more to this "mate" thing than she had told me. I looked at her small, silent form and sighed, not willing to risk the progress we had made to get more information out of her. Instead, I picked up the water bottle from the bedside table.

"Do you want some water? You're going to get dehydrated at this rate," I said calmly. I didn't know if that was true, but I was willing to try anything to help her gain some trust in me. She let out a single false laugh.

"Simple dehydration can't kill me, vampire. I would hardly be immortal if it could. An immediately fatal wound, on the other hand, is the only thing that could save me from this Hell on Earth. If it's not, I get to feel the pain until my body heals a wound it shouldn't have been able to withstand," she explained, her tone monotonous. She lifted her head and let it flop down onto the other side of the pillow, her blank gaze looking right through me at something only she could see. "I may not be as resilient as you and your kind, but I am just as strong and fast. Sometimes I'm glad I'm not a living stone pillar." I inclined my head in her direction.

"I didn't want to assume is all," I said, raising my hands in a gesture of surrender. She huffed once and tried to sit up again, her eyes still the blank, dead brown they had been for a few minutes now. I actually missed the fire of hatred and anger I had seen in her eyes before; looking into eyes that couldn't care less about whether they stayed alive or died was painful after the emotion I had quickly gotten used to seeing.

I raised my arm towards her, trying to give her the bottle, and she closed her eyes as she tried to sit up. She sucked in a breath as her ribs audibly raked against each other, and she collapsed back onto the bed again. It sounded like there was only one left broken, but it was rubbing and catching on the others and the spot where it was supposed to be connected. Her eyes shifted warily to me as I stood and took the few steps that put me next to her, putting the bottle down and grabbing one of the larger pillows instead. I laid the pillow across her torso, right where I heard the noise coming from, and waited for her to wrap her arms around it. When she didn't move, I gestured to the fluffy white object and spoke.

"Hold it to your chest and I'll sit you up so you can eat and drink," I said gently, not wanting to push her if she didn't want my help. Her eyes shifted from me to the pillow a few times before she finally complied. There was already a mound of pillows behind her, so it was just getting her propped up enough that she wouldn't choke on anything. I slipped one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, becoming all too aware of the fact that she was still naked. I lifted her up just a little and shifted her towards the headboard before setting her down again, quickly removing my arms from the direct contact with her skin. I hadn't realized it when I had first touched her, but when I let go, I noticed a strange . . . _humming_ in my body immediately fade. From what I could tell, it was an immensely pleasant feeling that I didn't think I would easily or ever get tired of. I handed her the bottle and she drank almost half before she stopped.

"Do you want to get dressed? Because if so, we can either work something out so you mostly do it with some assistance, or I could ask one of my sisters or my mother to come in and help you," I said, looking down at the carpet. That moment was the first time in a long time I felt like I would have blushed if I still had the ability. She looked at me strangely as she went to pick up the plate of eggs sitting on the table, quirking an eyebrow.

"What does it matter? You've seen me naked and felt me, so what difference would it make?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders. I was happy to see a spark of life back in her eyes as we continued to talk about other things than her past, even if she was more closed to me now than she had been then.

"Well, one difference would be the fact that you are awake now, and would be completely aware of what was going on. Another difference would be that you aren't injured and in need of medical care, which overrode my morals and ethics enough that I was able to do what I had to to help you. Shall I go on?" Mild shock flitted across her face, but she just shrugged in response.

"Do you have any other reasons?" she asked, the shock changing to partially hidden curiosity. I shook my head and gave her a half smile.

"No, but I could have thought of something that sounded good, I'm sure." She actually let out a laugh before she caught herself and shook her head.

"It's fine. I'm used to people seeing me without clothes, seeing as though those people are usually the ones who take them off," she sighed, putting the now empty plate back on the table and tossing the pillow she still had off the bed.

"You sure?" I asked, and she nodded once.

"I'd really like a shower, since my hair is so nasty, but I don't want to go that far just yet." I cocked my head to the side.

"What about a bath? You could put bubbles in it so I couldn't see anything when I lift you out, and I could close my eyes when I put you in and when you dress. That way, you'd only have to get dressed once," I thought out loud, immediately biting my own tongue at my forwardness. She looked genuinely thoughtful for a moment and nodded.

"Alright, since you seem so adamant about not seeing me without clothes for some strange reason." I chuckled.

"I might not have chosen this life, Vixen, but I _have_ chosen how I am willing to live it," I said, keeping the crooked grin on my face. I could visualize the wall around her crumbling with every word she spoke, the hellfire that had kept her going morphing into a fire that burned inside her, driving her to live. As she thought about my words, I watched the life slowly seep back into her face, into her eyes, and I knew I was gaining her trust. And I couldn't be happier knowing that such a strong, beautiful woman was finally willing to share her story with me.


	9. Chapter 8 Saving Edward

_Chapter 8: Saving Edward_

"Okay, now that you're all set, I think it's my turn. I'm going to go shower and change," Edward said after setting me back on the bed. I was dressed in skinny jeans and a corset top, all the better to keep my now healed ribs back together with. The last one had just popped back into place, and it would take a minute or two for it to be back to normal. One wrong move right after it sets, and it could break again, so I was on my back on my bed again. Edward had gotten a call from his apparently psychic sister—didn't know the deal with that term yet—telling him that Aro would be calling us down to the throne room in about a half hour.

"Okay. It's not like I have anywhere to go," I huffed, trying to sound at least slightly more pleasant than I had been. I had realized something when Edward made the comment about not choosing to be what he was, and I had done some thinking while I was in the bath, Edward bashfully standing in the doorway facing the room. I told him he didn't have to stand there like that, but he apparently wanted to make sure he was there as soon as I needed him. He interrupted me before I could think about my epiphany, and I gave him a blank look.

"I asked if you wanted me to bring you to my room instead of you sitting in here alone by yourself," he repeated, tilting his head to the side in question. I gave a half-hearted laugh.

"You may not realize this, but I'm quite used to being alone. It wasn't pleasant at first, but I came to cherish the time as opposed to having . . . company," I responded, looking up at the light grey ceiling. I was much more willing to answer his questions, and I could only think that it was a result of that same conclusion that led me to be more pleasant.

"So, should I take that as a no?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I took a second to debate and decided Edward was the first person I hadn't minded the presence of since Demetri adopted me.

"No, I'll go with you. I should be fine to walk by the time we need to go down to see the Masters," I sighed and draped my arm over my ribs, Edward ducking under the other so it was around his neck before he lifted me bridal style. He shifted me onto his one arm as he opened my door and then his, but an indignant screech erupted from the hallway before he entered. He looked at the source of the sound from over my head, but didn't turn to let me see who it was. I didn't care to look to see who it was; the annoyingly high voice was all I needed.

"_Edward_!" Blondie screeched, "What the _hell_ are you _doing?_" I rested my head against Edward's chest, trying to save at least one ear from going deaf, and realized just how bad this probably looked to the clingy little bitch. I was in a shirtless Edward's arms, going from my room to his. Yeah . . . that kind of slipped the mind . . .

"What I do and do not do, _Tanya_," Edward snapped, "is none of your business. But since you need to know every move I make, whether it concerns you or not, I am helping a friend." My stomach did a funny little floppy movement at the word _friend_, something I hadn't been able to call someone in a long time. It reminded me of that funny feeling I had had about Edward since I first saw him, almost like I already knew him, even though we had just met. I still didn't understand it, and Edward's tumor decided to save me from the headache I would have gotten because of it.

"What, help that whore _into your bed_? Just hers wasn't good enough for the two of you?" she continued to screech. Edward sighed heavily in response.

"Maybe I should have reworded my statement, even though your assumptions about what is going on are completely wrong," he said coldly. _Not completely_, I thought to myself as I tried to hold in a chuckle. _You're bringing me to your room from my own to put me in your bed while you get naked and wet in your bathroom. The reason is the only thing wrong . . ._

"_Who_ or _what_ I do or do not do is none of your business," Edward continued through my mental rant. I heard her sharp intake of breath and felt an evil grin slowly form on my face. I moved the hand that was draped around his shoulders to the nape of his neck, running my fingers through the hair there. He tensed as my fingers made their way up the back of his head, my fingers getting lost in the wild copper mess. I rubbed my cheek against his bare skin, and heard her hiss angrily at me.

"Tanya—" Edward started as she darted forward, but I was already out of his arms and crouched on the floor, springing to tackle her around the knees. She knotted her hand in my hair and tugged, growling as she flipped me off her, but I spun and landed in a crouch on my hands and the balls of my feet. My animal was coming out as we continued to fight, or more like, as she tried to attack me and I dodged, making her angrier and angrier. It was quite entertaining to me, but I could feel Edward's gaze follow me as he watched for any sign of pain. I hadn't had enough time for my rib to heal completely, but the blonde bimbo was grating on my last nerve. Her complete obliviousness to Edward lack of interest in her was shocking and pitiful, and I hoped to help it sink in.

"You are a pathetic excuse for an all-powerful immortal, you know that?" I growled, my jaw not aligning as I fought not to shift. "You have lived for so long, gained so much experience and knowledge, and yet . . . you can't even realize that fact that you're horny lust is unrequited. Apparently, you learned nothing." She snarled and pulled on my hair, pulling me towards her.

"You insignificant little piece of trash! Who do you think you are, talking to someone like me that way? I'm going to make you pay with your life for that!" She ranted, her other hand coming up to grab me around my neck. Her skin touched the cold metal of the crest hanging around my neck and I gave her an evil grin.

"This is where I should say your worst nightmare, I think, but that's already happening. You aren't getting what you want, spurned by the one you desire like a new toy," I said calmly as her grip tightened around my throat. "You desire men like you desire things, and once you get them, you use them until you get bored and go after another. How nice. You know what humans call a woman like that? A _call-girl_. A _slut_. A _prostitute_. A _dirty whore_. Edward doesn't want a _whore_. He doesn't want _you_."

She howled in rage and slammed my head into the floor as I laughed in her face. I heard Edward say something, but I couldn't hear him over the bitch's constant screaming in rage. My vision swam as she repeatedly slammed my head into the floor, black dots calmly drifting around in front of my eyes. Something flew past me and her grip on my hair was abruptly removed. Someone turned me over onto my back, brushing the hair from in front of my face.

"Well, I see how you got your name," Edward's voice said from above me. I smiled and laughed, but didn't respond because it was true. I hadn't made dealing with me easy when I first showed up, and I was frequently seen in my fox form. "Are you alright?" he asked, his hand flitting over me as he checked for injuries. As I stared up at the blur that was Edward's face, my vision cleared and the large bruise I had felt on my face receded until it was completely gone. My rub had cracked when she threw me and I twisted to land on my feet, but I could feel it healing back up already.

"_Don't touch her, Edward!_" Strawberry Shortcake screamed. I tilted my head until I was looking at her, albeit upside down, and gave her a smirk. She was being held against the wall by a runway blonde and a short, black-haired girl, shockingly resembling something out of a fairy storybook. They were both holding her there like they'd rather be anywhere else, and when they saw me looking at them, I could tell they were trying not to smile.

"He will touch who he wants to, Princess, and apparently, it isn't _you_," I said, knowingly not helping the situation. I heard a loud guffaw and softer, partially hidden chuckles from behind me and jumped, a slight jolt of pain shooting through my side. I didn't acknowledge it, but I knew Edward felt me flinch. His hands had abruptly stopped moving right over my recently healed side, right where the pain had come from. I moved my head to see where the sounds were coming from and felt my eyes widen in surprise.

All of the vampires from yesterday were standing behind Edward and I, and all of them except the two brown haired girls were trying to hold back laughter. The largest of them seemed to be having the hardest time of it, his childlike face not fitting the massiveness of his body. I could see just from his eyes that he wasn't a brute like Felix, using his muscles to intimidate anyone and everyone he could. The two leaders were mostly blank in the face, but I could see their shoulders twitch as they held in laughter.

"_Eleazar! Tell them to let me go so I can kill that little bitch!_" she screamed. He just shook his head.

"Tanya, she told you the same thing we've been trying to since the first time you mentioned getting Edward. You can't force yourself on every man you want. He might be the first to deny you, but that doesn't mean you try harder. Even your sisters knew you were going a little overboard," he said, gesturing to the two frowning brunettes. Tanya screeched in response and I heard her trying to break free. "Kate, Irina, would you take your sister to your room so she can calm down?" the slightly graying leader asked, and they nodded. I saw the blonde haired one pat him on the back once out of pity and smiled again, feeling quite satisfied with myself. I saw the dirty blonde vampire next to the big, brown haired one tilt his head at me and I gave him a questioning look. He shook his head once and looked to where the two girls were bringing Tanya forward.

"Eddie, you would really want that little piece of shit over me? We've been together for so long," she pleaded, trying to sound persuasive.

"Tanya, we have _never_ been together, and I just met her yesterday. We're friends, and that's all," he explained, and hope started to build in her eyes. "But, to answer your question, yes, I would want her over you, even though I don't even really know her." She snarled and swiped at Edward, and I lunged forward, snapping at her wrist with my werewolf jaws. She screeched in fright and broke free of the other girls, backing towards the wall. Everyone else froze in place, not knowing what to make of my shifting so quickly in front of them. I was on my feet and growling at her, my rage at her attempt to hurt Edward startling even me.

_Rejection does not constitute assault, _vampire, I projected. This seemed to help them realize who I was, and they looked at each other in shock. _Now leave this family alone and go find another toy to play with, one that is actually _willing. I took a step forward and she dashed down the hall, her sisters following after a moment. She shouted behind her as she ran, saying, "I'm done with your desperate ass, Edward! If you want to fuck an animal, then so be it!" I waited a few seconds until the sound of their rapid footsteps faded, before looking at the other vampires still standing frozen in shock. I laid down and looked at a stunned Edward, tilting my head in confusion.

_How are you the desperate one when she throws herself at anyone who happens to be male?_ I asked, legitimately confused. He stared at me for a moment before a smile broke out on his face and he laughed, the others following soon after. Apparently it wasn't a question I would get an answer to, so I looked at the male and female that came with her yesterday. They felt my gaze on them, and held my gaze.

_I would apologize for what just happened, but it wouldn't be sincere_, I said, shrugging as much as this form could. They got the idea, and Eleazar shook his head.

"She had to learn one way or another, and the easy way wasn't getting the point across." He sighed. "I should be the one apologizing that you had to get thrown in the middle of . . . whatever you would call that." I gave a coughing laugh in response and sighed, letting my skin ripple as I shifted and moved into a sitting position at the same time. All of them jumped at the same time and I chuckled.

"Is that going to happen every time I shift?" I asked, good-naturedly.

"Hopefully we can get used to that," Edward said, shaking the shock from his shoulders and standing. "You never answered me. Are you okay?" I nodded, rubbing my hand over my throbbing rib.

"Shifting agitated it, but it didn't break. I should be good in a minute or two," I responded. He nodded, visibly relieved. "Aww, don't feel bad! That was fun! I haven't had the chance to make someone that mad since Chelsea and Heidi stopped bothering me. Apparently they got annoyed that they weren't really hurting me," I said to him and shrugged.

"I can understand that," the blonde woman that had been holding Tanya said. "I've wanted to do what you just did since I first met her, but our alliance with her family tied my hands. My mouth, not so much, but it's not nearly as effective by myself."

"Tanya would have followed you around for the entire time we were here if this didn't happen, Edward, and I saw her debating whether or not she would ask to come with us to Forks after this trip while the others returned to Denali," Fairy Vampire said. Edward just shook his head, offering to help me up. I took his hand and used it to raise myself off the floor, brushing myself off in the process.

"I know, it's just . . . Ugh," he said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. I nodded once.

"Ugh, huh?" I asked, being a smart ass. "Translation, anyone?" The large one laughed again, the sound echoing inside my skull.

"I like this one!" he said, pointing at me. The silent guy next to him gave a tight smile and nodded once. I winked at them, and the little pixie girl danced over to me.

"I don't know if you've noticed yet, but Edward has . . . morals. He was raised to be polite to a woman, no matter what, so he didn't feel right saying anything to Tanya that could hurt her. Or knock any sense into her, for that matter," she explained, shaking her spiky head. "Oh, and by the way, I think we need to discuss the definition of 'fun' with you. Kicking asses? Really?" she said, her voice getting higher in pitch as she talked. Edward laughed again, the sound caressing my face. I was used to the alluring features of vampires, like the good looks and smell, but his seemed to be so much . . . stronger. I brushed it off as my imagination and listened to what he was actually saying.

"Well, you might have just _saved_ my ass, so that's a start. Those two are Rosalie and Alice. Alice was the one who helped me yesterday," he said, gesturing to the blonde and black haired girls in turn. "That is Carlisle and his wife Esme." That was the blonde leader and his caramel mate. "And Emmett and Jasper are the two chuckle heads over there." The big one and the silent one waved as he said their names. "You've already kind of been introduced to Eleazar, and his mate is Carmen," he finished, his voice reflecting his feelings for each of them. It was obvious that these people were so much more than his clan members and allies; they were his family. I waved to them all after he was done and they smiled at me. Alice suddenly gasped and everyone's attention immediately turned to her.

"We've only got ten minutes before Aro calls for us, and Edward isn't ready yet!" she yelled, gesturing to his clothes, or lack thereof. I quirked an eyebrow at her and slowly turned to Edward, my head tilted.

"Shopping diva?" I asked, discreetly pointing to Alice behind my hand. He chuckled and nodded. Alice huffed and grabbed Edward's arm, dragging him to his room.

"Unless you want me to dress you myself, get your pretty boy ass in there and get ready to go," she said fiercely. Edward darted into the room and shut the door with a _slam_, letting me know just how much he _didn't_ want her in there. I laughed and shook my head.

"I take it she's a hand full?" I asked, and she glared at me as she walked back over.

"You've just got to get used to her," Jasper said, breaking his silence. He had a little southern lilt to his voice that seemed to soften his fierce and dangerous looks, kind of like the dimples staring at me from Emmett's face.

As they continued to talk, I watched them interact with each other. It was obvious that Eleazar and Carmen, weren't an immediate part of this family, but they were very close to Carlisle and Esme. Alice and Jasper, as well as Emmett and Rosalie, oozed love for each other in every touch and word they spoke to their significant other. I already knew Edward was single with everything that happened with Tanya, and it made me wonder how he could stand living around so much affection without any himself. I could tell they were just like Edward, with how accepting they were of me in such a short amount of time, especially with what just happened. It eased the initial defensiveness I had when I saw them, and my walls were already falling to the point Edward had destroyed them to. I couldn't believe how easily I was letting myself interact with them, but I couldn't feel anything wrong about it. I felt . . . happy. Content. Safe. Like I . . . _belonged_.

Something kept tugging at my mind though, a question that came from the comment Edward had made about not choosing to be what he was. I still didn't know how he came to be a vampire, but I could sympathize with him. I didn't choose to be a shifter, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I didn't choose to be Aro's little errand girl and toy, which was probably more similar to the feelings Edward had about what happened to him. The conclusion I came to?

We weren't as different as I thought.


	10. Chapter 9 Catching Up

_***Rated M Content***_

_Chapter 9: Catching Up_

Demetri and I led the nine vampires to the office room, where Aro was waiting in the doorway to greet them. He had sent Demetri up to retrieve them, and I had to convince him I was okay enough to walk by myself. He was going to haul me around all day just to make sure I healed completely, but Edward helped my case.

"I am indebted to you, Edward. Thank you for taking care of my baby sister," Demetri had said, trapping my arms at my sides and crushing me to his chest. He had dashed over and got me before I could react, making me squeal as he spun around with me in his arms. Emmett had walked over and waved his beefy hand in front of Demetri's face, asking who he was and what he did with the real Demetri. Everyone chuckled then, but no one was chuckling now with Aro's gaze raking over them.

"Ah, my honored guests! I hope Demetri and Vixen have treated you well?" he said, making the statement a question.

"Yes, old friend. Vixen has been quite entertaining," Carlisle responded, humor in his tone. I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I kept my face blank and my gaze averted and on the floor, the picture of submission.

"Come forward, my pet," Aro said, and I walked up to him, turned, and stopped just behind his shoulder, my rage burning in my throat and chest. The top of my head only reached just above his shoulder. "I see you are finally learning your lesson on how to treat my guests. Your punishment must have worked for once, but just in case, I'll need to keep a watch on you while you are around them. At least until you learn how to act around strangers." And then . . . the sickening _click_ of metal as he attached the heavy gold chain that matched my collar. Utter humiliation surged through my body, and I fought not to tremble. Instead, I squeezed my hands into fists and forced my nails to dig into my palms. "You _will not_ break this chain, Vixen, or you will be punished severely." He chuckled, and my vision turned scarlet. "Not that you could now anyway."

"Now then," Aro said, like nothing had happened, "I see the three succubae are not with you. Shall I assume they are otherwise . . . occupied?" he asked. I didn't look up as I glared holes into the floor, but guessed they nodded in the affirmative since they didn't provide an explanation. Aro tugged on the chain and I took a step forward to ease the pinching of the links on my neck. I didn't flinch, but I saw Edward's hand twitch like he was fighting not to make a fist. I didn't look up to see his face as Aro raised his hand to pet my head. I twitched away from his touch in disgust, catching myself before I actually moved, and he _tsk_ed like he was looking at a disobedient child.

"Come now, Vixen, you know I will not harm you unless you are being punished," he cooed, thinking my movement was out of fear. I let him think that, displaying my fury and humiliation as trembling dread. He beckoned everyone inside and physically pulled me in, not letting me get my feet under myself so I could walk properly. I thought he did it just to hear me choke. He sat at the head of the table, his brothers seated on either side of him, and the others filled the empty seats. Edward was sitting at the far end, but the look on his face told me he'd rather be anywhere else.

Aro turned me to face him and I kept my head turned so he couldn't see my face. He wrapped the arm with my leash around my back and shoved my body against him, crushing my boobs against his neck and cheek. His hand travelled down the bare flesh of my lower back and his fingers slipped under the waistband of my jeans. I cringed into his chest so he couldn't see my face, and he brought his hand around to the button of my jeans. My memories of Edward's hands on me as he took care of me, as he removed my clothing, the feel of his skin pressed against me as I lay naked on top of him, how he undressed me and put me in the tub, and then the fight that had taken place not long ago. I couldn't tell what Aro was thinking as he rubbed his fingers against the skin of my waist, but my anxiety made me tense. He didn't keep quiet very long.

"Oh, my hot tempered little Vixen," he said with a sigh, his fingers still rubbing me. "You and the succubus just do not get along, do you?" He sighed again, and the tension in the room rose dramatically. What she said next had me struggling against the leash as much as his stupid order would let me.

"You know, Felix has shown a great improvement in regard to you, my dear. Maybe he would like to execute your punishment this time." He turned his body slightly away, but kept his gaze locked on mine. "Felix, would you join me for a moment? And bring the whip."

_The _what_?_ I thought to myself, looking at Vixen's terrified battle with her . . . _leash_. Her eyes were wide and black with absolute terror, a stark contrast to the bright, raging red they had been. My heart tugged in pain and anger at the change from the carefree way she had acted just a few minutes ago around my family and Demetri to what I was seeing now. The frightened side of Vixen was something I never wanted to see again. Felix's sudden appearance behind Vixen brought me out of my thoughts, the sickening grin on his face making my stomach turn in fear. The sight of the whip made my stomach attempt to scratch its way out of me to save itself.

The thing was coiled, so I couldn't tell how long it was, but it definitely wasn't small. The handle was slightly larger than the diameter of a quarter, but it didn't narrow down to a point or flogger like others. No, this one had curved metal spikes at its tip. They caught the light of the lanterns littering the room, and Vixen seemed to double her efforts to break free, even though they were fruitless. The rest of the device was made of thick leather, and I could tell from Vixen's wild eyed look, she knew that all too well.

"Aro, what are you doing?" Carlisle asked calmly, looking at Aro with mild interest. His mind was the exact opposite, trying to predict Aro's moves before he made them. His question brought images forward in Aro, letting me see exactly what he was going to do. He looked right at me, as though he had shown them to me on purpose, and gave me an evil grin.

"What do you think, my boy? I think it is appropriate for the poor behavior she has shown before you and yours," he said tauntingly. At first, I didn't see the point in prodding me with the images and question, until a memory of him touching her skin appeared before my eyes. He must have seen how I treated her, and was attempting to discover the depth of my ability to care. He repeatedly flashed images of Vixen slashed and bloody as she hung from a rod in the ceiling, her head hanging in unconsciousness. The blood poured from her wounds into a puddle on the floor, the amount startling, but the shallow rise and fall of her chest alerted me to the fact that she was still alive. He turned to Felix without waiting for my answer, handing over Vixen's leash.

"String her up and get to work while my old friend and I catch up, won't you?" he said, smiling at Vixen's horrified face. He stood and took her chin in his hand, squeezing so his nails dug into her flesh and little trails of blood seeped from under his fingertips. "You, my darling, are going to take your punishment silently. You will not scream, and you will not fight. Hopefully, this is the last time I will punish you for disrespecting my guests." Vixen twitched once before Felix led her away, Aro's command forcing her to cooperate.

I watched as he brought her over to what looked like a thick towel rack bolted into the ceiling before I recognized it as the bar from Aro's memory. A long rope was brought out and tied around her wrists before it was thrown over the bar and she was raised into the air. She hung limply by her bound wrists, the rough rope already biting into her skin, but her eyes betrayed the calmness her body spoke of. She was literally wild-eyed, her pupils dilated and frantically scanning the room, not landing on any single point for more than a second. As her eyes passed over the table and those sitting at it, the hatred I had seen before when we first met her flare back up, making her eyes a dark red with her rage. I moved to stand, but the thought that slipped from Aro's mind kept me where I was.

_Let's see how he reacts to Vixen's pain. According to her thoughts, he greatly enjoyed taking care of her injuries afterwards_, he thought, propping his hand on his fist. He reflected back to my hands on her skin, her feeling my almost naked form under her completely naked body, and her extreme exhaustion . . .

_He thinks I . . . But I would never . . . Oh, wait!_ It gave me an idea of how to possibly save Vixen, at least while we were here, but the sickening crack of the whip broke my train of thought before I could fully formulate it.

A fresh line of blood flowed from a slash across the front of Vixen's shoulders, looking like the contact with the metal tip may have broken both of her collar bones. I looked to Aro again, who shifted slightly in his seat as he watched, and swallowed down the pool of venom in my mouth. A soft _umph_ came from Vixen as Felix hit her again, this time directly over the swells of her breasts, one of the longer spines digging into the soft flesh just to the left of her nipple. Blood poured even faster down her body, but she still couldn't make a sound. I moved in my chair, like I was adjusting, and wiped my face of any emotion.

_It will work, Edward. Just do what you have to to get him to say yes_, Alice thought, and I tilted my head to the side as I continued to watch Vixen's . . . _punishment_. Aro watched me, trying to be inconspicuous but failing miserably. He seemed to be getting sloppy in his old age, first not seeing the entirety of Vixen's memory, and then being careless as he watched me for a reaction to what Felix was doing to her. Felix grabbed her breasts roughly in his hands, digging his fingernails in, and licked her neck. He breathed heavily and loosened his grip before tightening again, over and over again as he continued to lick at her exposed flesh, avoiding the lines of blood. My stomach flipped in disgust, and I had to block Demetri's—as well as the rest of my family's—thoughts to keep myself sane enough to do this. I shifted in my chair again, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Aro, if I may, is this really necessary?" I asked, keeping my head tilted and my eyes roving over Vixen's body. "The little fight was actually . . . entertaining, not to mention she helped remove an undesired cling-on." Aro let the smile he had been fighting grow on his face.

"It did, did it? You don't think she deserves to be punished for her poor treatment of the succubus?" he asked, watching me carefully. I shifted in my seat, now actually uncomfortable because of his gaze.

"No, actually. I . . . appreciated their little spat," I said, dropping my voice as Felix moved back from her and raised the whip again, the leather and metal snapping over the exposed flesh between the bottom of her shirt and the waistband of her pants. Her skin ripped open as the spines of the tip caught and wrenched themselves free. Aro's smile grew larger, and I decided to keep going. "I actually had a . . . proposition for you, if you'll hear it."

"Oh? And what would that be?" he asked, genuinely curious. I squirmed in my seat again, tensing my body as Felix brought his hand to her thigh and let it travel until it was cupping between her legs. He moved his hand roughly back and forth and bent to run his tongue around her navel, making me have to repress the urge to gag.

"I wanted to ask if you would consider giving sole ownership of her to me, at least until we take our leave in one year's time," I said slowly, settling my eyes on Vixen's. They were completely void of any emotion. Not even her hatred or pain could be found. There was a flash of something when I mentioned Aro giving her to me, but the emotion didn't even seem to fully form. I tried to tell her what I was doing through my eyes, but she wasn't looking at anything in particular.

"And what will you do in return, Edward Cullen? I am not a fan of one-sided propositions," Aro said, drawing my gaze to him. I took a few seconds to think, kicking myself in the ass for not thinking that he would want something in return.

"Would you agree if I were to go on missions on behalf of the Volturi? I would only go as long as Vixen is one of my companions. She will not be allowed to leave my side for any reason without my express permission," I responded, being sure to make the last point. He seemed to contemplate my offer, shielding his thoughts from me by turning to watch Felix's continuing torture of Vixen and replaying the images to keep me out.

"You would be an honorary guard member for one entire year in return for temporary ownership of this half-breed wench? Even after all of the offers you have denied to join the Volturi Guard?" I thought about the irony of the situation for a second, but still nodded.

"Yes, I would-" Rose jumped to her feet and snarled at me, her eyes black with rage.

"What the _fucking hell_ do you think you're doing? She's not something you can just _trade_, like some _fucking baseball card_! She's not your _fucking sex toy_!" she roared from across the table. I kept my face clear of emotion, locking my gaze with hers. I hated that I couldn't curb her fears about my intentions, but I couldn't risk this. I would have hated myself even more if I didn't do everything imaginable in an attempt to help free Vixen of her tormentors, even for just a short period of time.

"Aren't you going to say anything, you _bastard_?" she screamed at me. I lightly shrugged a shoulder.

"You seem to have said enough, I think," I said calmly. "You have made your assumptions and feelings known, and I have nothing to say in return." Emmett grabbed her before she could fly across the table at me, and he quickly excused them from the room.

"You sick_ fuck!_" Rose roared, refusing to go quietly. I just sighed, stabbing myself again and again on the inside for the pain this was causing everyone but Alice, Jasper, and I. It still hurt, of course, but the two of them had at least an idea of what was going on. Carlisle and Esme just looked at me with disappointment marring their usually happy and joyful faces.

"You have a deal, Edward Cullen," Aro said, breaking the silence left by Rose's departure, "as long as you accept every mission I give you, without complaint, as one of the highest members of the guard. You will have free roam of the castle, along with control of the guard beneath you. Vixen will be yours to do with what you please, and she will never leave your side without your express permission. I will not call on her, nor will anyone else in this castle, but at the end of your stay here, she will return to my control." I nodded in acceptance, and he clapped his hands, a sickening—and slightly worrying—smile on his face.

"Lovely! You would not be offended, then, if I were to request the company of your succubus?" I actually chuckled, but quickly quieted myself.

"She is anything but mine, Aro, and I do not control her. As you already know well, she does what she pleases, as well as her sisters," I responded, putting up my air of indifference again. He laughed and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose you are correct. So, would you like to claim your part of our bargain?" he asked, waving in Vixen's direction. Felix was still going at her, feeling all over her body with his now bloodied hands. I nodded and calmly stood, making my way over to them.

"Felix," Aro called from behind me, "that's enough." Felix tensed and looked like he was going to argue, but instead just backed up and glared at me as I stopped in front of Vixen's almost unconscious form. "Vixen, fox form, now. Make it easier for your new master to carry your basically useless self." She shifted involuntarily, not having the energy to fight his command, and her stifled groans turned to whines as her injuries moved from her human form to her fox form.

I grabbed the rope holding her up and slowly lowered her until she was cradled in the crook of my free arm. I could feel her trembling from pain—and probably fear—but I resisted the urge to comfort her, at least for now. I kept my touch light as I deftly examined her new injuries, but kept up appearances any way I could. I made it look like I was rough and impatient with her bindings, and she groaned just as I pretended to jerk the rope from her wrists. My stomach flipped with the thought that I actually hurt her, but I swallowed it down before I turned to go back to the table. I looked at Demetri as I sat, recognizing the hurt and betrayal in his eyes, and tried to pass to him my apologies for the way I was acting, to pass along an explanation of what I was doing. I thought I saw recognition in return, but I couldn't be sure. Either way, he kept the same emotions on his face.

"If you don't mind, Aro, I was wondering if you would tell us about her, since she's now unable to do it herself," I said, her head flopping against my chest as she fought for consciousness. He looked down at her with mild disgust, but nodded.

"It is actually what I wanted to discuss with you and your family to begin with, but we were mildly . . . distracted. I will gladly inform you of this conquest," he said, gesturing towards Vixen with a casual wave of his hand.

"She's been here with her parents for about six years now, after Felix and Demetri captured them outside the castle. Chelsea noticed her outside and thought there was something odd about the strange black cat looking into her window, so she called Felix to capture it so she could experiment, to see what had given her that feeling about the animal. When the little beast changed from a cat into a fox and managed to injure Felix by biting him, he and Demetri brought the three of them to us," he said, looking like he was reflecting back on a particularly good Christmas morning. Cue more disgust.

He told us what I already knew, about how he found out about her inability to refuse his demands, and that the harder she does try to fight, the more pain she puts herself through. He told us about the range of powers her kind have, that basically any and every power anyone could think of, one of them could have. She had an amazing range herself, from the physical and mental shield to the senses that rival a vampire's. I took note of the fact that she didn't actually tell him any abilities specifically, and gently ran my thumb over her fur once. Aro noticed, but he assumed the movement to be for a different reason, since my thumb happened to be on her thigh.

"We've managed to catch two others, both male, and they are proving difficult to break, since they don't have the same weakness for dominance that she does. They've only been here for a month or two, though, so I am confident that we will be able to break them and use them like we do her. We lost them twenty-four years ago, and have been tracking them since. You can only imagine how happy I was to have found them again, and actually manage to capture them. It would have been ideal to have them back when they were young and we could have trained them, but I have plenty of patience after such a long battle just to get them. We've kept her parents here as collateral for her cooperation. When she does not obey and her punishments are not enough, we punish her through her parents instead. She is allowed to see them only with permission and a vampire escort," he explained, increasing my urge to vomit painfully with every word. I nodded in response, unable to articulate anything without the threat of saying something I shouldn't. Luckily, Carlisle took over.

"So, you wanted to brag about your new possessions, Aro?" he asked, his voice light despite his words. Aro shrugged and grinned.

"Of course! Although, I was hoping you would examine them to see if you could find anything else that we do not already know," he said, his interest in this topic obvious with the change in his voice. Carlisle shook his head.

"I'm not sure what else I could find out, Aro, but I will examine them," he agreed grudgingly.

"Excellent," Aro declared happily. He then looked at me, and down at the small bundle in my arms.

"Well, that was all I wanted to say for now, so I will let you go play with your new toy," he said, smiling sadistically. "Although, I would recommend waiting until she is at least partially conscious. I always found that to be more . . . enjoyable." I gave him a smirk in return, standing and giving him a slight bow.

I will take your advice into consideration, Aro," I said. "I was thinking of gaining her trust first, then taking what I want. Trust can be quite the weapon, if used at the right time." He chuckled and I turned to leave, the others standing to follow. The rest of my thought hung in the air, and a wave of determination flowed through me.

_You'll find out just how good of a weapon trust can be, Aro. Just be patient_.


	11. Chapter 10 Contemplation

_Contemplation_

I laid Vixen down on the counter in the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet, soaking it in warm water. Her bloodied body was limp and her eyes were only half closed, letting me look into the blankness of her black eyes. Her gashes were mostly healed already, but her heartbeats were weak from blood loss. I gently pressed a finger to where her breaks were, and was happy to find them almost completely knitted together already. I took the cloth and gently wiped at the massive bloodstain over her chest, trying to avoid directly touching the just healed wounds. Her body twitched every now and then when I got too close, and I quickly finished, wanting to get her wrapped up in a blanket. Even with her fur, she felt cool to the touch as her body attempted to replenish the large, normally fatal amount of blood she left behind on the floor.

I dropped the cloth into the sink and grabbed one of the fluffy white towels from the same cabinet, as well as a fleece blanket from the room. I draped the towel over her first to keep any blood I missed from getting on the blanket, picking her up and wrapping it around her before doing the same with the fleece. Walking to the bed, I threw the covers back and placed her in the middle of the bed, tucking the blankets back up around her. She trembled for a few seconds before she settled, and I sat in the chair in the corner of the room next to the window.

I wanted so badly to curl up next to her and hold her after what she'd been through, but I had no idea what she heard, or how she took it. I sounded just like any other horny, controlling vampire, but I didn't mean any of it. I could only hope she would be able to see what I was doing and forgive me for the way I spoke about her, but until then, I would keep my distance. I would do what I could without making her uncomfortable until she found some way to forgive me, no matter how long it took.

The darkness was a familiar friend to me by now, taking me away from the pain and violence for at least a little while. I had known this darkness like an intimate lover since my parents and I were first captured. Its cool touch caressed me until I was thrust back into the life that constantly returned me to the embrace of unconsciousness, but what I heard before it engulfed me sent chills down my spine and ignited the hellfire smoldering in my chest, waiting to burn them all alive. It's the only way to kill vampires, after all.

When Edward asked Aro if he could have me, I thought for sure I had heard him wrong. I thought for sure I was having a nightmare, that I had already left the conscious world, but it wasn't the same darkness I knew so well. But when the two of them kept talking, making a deal . . . I couldn't fight the darkness anymore. The nothingness was better than the reality that everything I thought about Edward, everything _Demetri_ thought about his friend, was completely wrong.

This was the only wound the darkness couldn't make go away, the one that haunted my once serene haven.

My anger and disappointment stewed as I floated in the darkness, burning away at the little progress towards trust I had made with Edward. I could sense something happening with my body, but I couldn't tell what. At this point, I didn't even want to know. I didn't know how long I stayed in the dark, and truth be told, I didn't care. The longer I was in it, the less time I was in the Hell on earth I knew as my life. Eventually, though, I felt my body getting heavier as I regained consciousness.

I inhaled deeply and opened my eyes, immediately looking for the lying backstabber known as my new master. I couldn't believe it when I scanned the room to find it empty. I couldn't even feel him trying to read me. I took the alone time to shift and finally take a shower, ignoring the pink scars that were finally fading away, and got dressed in the closest thing I had to whole clothes. It was a blue mid-thigh length dress with strips tying the front and back together at the sides. The neckline dipped into a deep V, stopping well into my cleavage. I didn't bother with shoes, since I probably wouldn't leave the castle today and, if I did, it would probably be in animal form. I was more comfortable without them, anyway.

"Vixen?" a female voice said from outside my door. I sighed heavily and opened it, looking down at the smallest of the Cullen clan's women. She gave me a hesitant smile, the top of her spiky black head only reaching my chin.

"Um . . . hi. I'm Alice," she said, her body starting to tremble. I raised an eyebrow and her smile grew. "I'm not used to standing still, but I didn't want to come off too strong. I saw you shutting the door in my face if I did," she explained, and I raised my eyebrow even more. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "You'd think my being able to see the future would have made this go at least a _little_ smoother," she said quietly, almost to herself.

"You have an ability?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise. She smiled and nodded.

"I can see the future, but they're influenced by people's decisions. The only time something is going to happen for sure is if the person makes a decision and doesn't waver from it," she explained. "Jasper is an empath, and you already know Edward's power." I huffed in response to the last part of her comment. I wouldn't soon forget the feeling of that asshole trying to force his way into my mind. Alice stayed silent after that, bouncing on the balls of her feet and just staring at me.

"What?" I asked impatiently. She stopped bouncing for a second in surprise, and started right back up again.

"Oh, well I was wondering if you wanted to spend the day with Esme, Rosalie and myself. I know I should have asked, but I looked and didn't see you doing anything all day and wanted to give you the option of not having to spend the time by yourself." I stared at her for a moment, absolutely shocked, before I responded.

"What about my new _master_?" I spat coolly. "He doesn't have anything planned for the two of us today?" Alice's once happy face fell and she shook her head fiercely.

"Vixen, _no_! He's not like that," she pleaded. "Why would he take such care to not offend you when you were injured, while you were unconscious, no less, if he would just come back and do what you think he plans to? You've been out cold for two days straight, and he has done nothing but sit in his room and wait for you to wake up. He spent the first night here to make sure Felix didn't try to continue what he started, and that was it. He asked Rose, Esme, and I to check on you every now and then, but he hasn't set foot in this room since he left it. _He's not like them_!" Her eyes shone with unshed tears and I crossed my arms across my chest.

"I have no reason to believe that," I responded, still cold. She shook her head again and stomped her foot. She pointed a finger in my face and tried to stare me down with her now pitch black eyes.

"I may not have the personal experience of what you've been through at the hands of the sick bastards that live in this castle, but I _do_ know this: You know_ nothing_ about my brother, and you have _no right_ to act like you know _shit_! You're right, you _don't_ have any reason to believe what I said, but you have _nothing_ to prove that he will act otherwise! You don't know why he did what he did yesterday, so you just assumed the worst and won't hear anything else. I came over here to try to show you that we're different from them, but apparently you don't care. You'd rather just sit in your room and wait for the next command to do something you probably don't want to do instead of taking the freedom Edward has given you by taking you from Aro and finally doing what _you_ want." She sighed and shook her head. "Fine. Whatever. The offer still stands, and not just for today. Any time you want to get out, let us know and we'll join you, okay?" I didn't respond and she sighed again before walking away. She seemed slightly depressed, but as soon as the other two women joined her, it was like we never talked. She was all bouncy again.

I took a step back and closed my door, mulling over what she had just told me. Apparently, Edward wouldn't be giving me any commands today, or at all, from the sound of things. I had to giver Alice credit, though. She was right; I was wasting the precious time Edward had given me by sitting in my room waiting for something that wouldn't come. I decided to use that time before he inevitably decided to change his mind.

So I ran.

I jumped out the window and shifted as I fell, landing on four red paws that immediately took me away from my brick and mortar prison. I ran and ran, going in larger and larger circles with the castle as the center of my spiraling path. I loved the feeling of the wind weaving through my fur, caressing my skin and blowing all of my problems away. I knew it really couldn't, no matter how much I willed it, and they wouldn't let me forget it either. My thoughts quickly trickled back into the forefront of my mind, and I stopped on the shore of the lake I was currently running next to, _Lago di Santa Luce_. As far as I knew, it was the closest lake to the castle, about twelve miles away, not that I'd been allowed out enough to be sure. I sat down and drank, my throat scratchy from my run, and my mind was bombarded with the thoughts I had been trying to run from.

Alice's loud rant echoed around in my skull, and I sighed loudly. She was right about everything she said, from my assumptions based on my limited experience to my inability to recognize the freedom I had been given while it was staring me in the face. No matter how much I thought about any of it, though, it all led back to Edward, and that was one topic I didn't want to think about. Of course, it was what wouldn't leave me alone.

Why wasn't he giving me orders? Why wasn't he using me like the others? Why would he leave me with the females instead of guarding his "property?" Why would he care if Felix wanted to finish what he started, besides it leading to the damaging of his new toy? Was he actually like that, though? Was I just projecting what I had come to know onto someone I didn't just because of what he was? Was I ignoring _who_ he was in my assumptions? Should I _try_ to get to know him, or would it just be a waste of my time? What would happen to me when Edward and his family left? Would I go back to Aro, or would he give me to someone else?

At this point, I had more questions than answer, and my skull was pounding. The only answer I did have: I was definitely using my past experience to judge Edward before I really got to know him. I got up and shook myself, watching the last rays of sunlight disappear behind the trees. I had run and sat by the lake since I woke up—after _two days_, I suddenly remembered. I had never been out that long, but I had never been injured so severely in such a short period of time.

I sighed again and drank once more before turning back towards the forest behind me. I heard a twig snap from the other side of this narrow section of the lake, and a young boy appeared out of the brush. I tensed and turned my ears towards him to keep pretenses, and he froze when his eyes found me. He stared for a few seconds before taking a slow step forward, but I turned and ran. Even from the distance between us, he would have been able to see how different I was from a normal fox, and I didn't want him running home and asking questions about a red fox with eyes that changed colors. I almost laughed. That was basically my life. I didn't want anyone to know who I was if I could avoid it, and I would do everything and anything I could to make sure they didn't. No wonder I was in this situation.

I ran all the way back to the castle, slightly slower than before so I could actually take in the scenery around me, but my mind still wasn't silent. My eyes took in the sights, while my mind sorted through options of what I should do when I got back. Should I talk to Edward? Should I wait for him to come to me? Should I talk to Alice? Apologize for how I acted? Possibly take her up on her offer so I could get to know more about Edward before I confronted him face to face?

Ugh.

I saw the castle come into view and shot up the tree across from my window. I ran the length of the limb and jumped the five-foot gap to my window, landing with a soft _clack_ of my nails. Jumping up onto my bed, I pushed my nose under the covers and curled up in the middle of the bed.

I slept fitfully all night, going as far as to shift to try to find a more comfortable position. It didn't help, and I just ended up back as a fox. My thoughts just wouldn't leave me alone for even a moment now, and I decided I had no choice but to talk to Alice tomorrow if I wanted to sleep. I finally managed to fall into a half sleep before I was woken again by a knock on my door. I yipped and the door opened, Alice starting to speak but falling silent when she didn't see me.

"Vixen?" she asked from the doorway, and I grudgingly moved from my spot. I poked my head out from under the covers and she smiled. "Sorry, did I wake you? I didn't think to see when you were going to wake up," she said apologetically. I was confused for a moment, and then I remembered her ability.

I stretched before jumping off the bed and going to the bathroom, shifting so I could brush my teeth and use the bathroom. I could hear her unnecessary breathing and knew she was waiting for me, assuming she had seen the decision I made last night regarding her offer. I walked past her and into the closet to change, throwing on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a dark blue and black corset top. I stepped out of the closet and hung my head, not making eye contact with her. I crossed my arms over my stomach defensively, my animal mannerisms seeping into my human form with my nervousness.

"I . . . I wanted . . ." I started, but I was having trouble getting the words out. "I wanted to . . . reconsider your offer," I finally said, sighing in relief of finally getting the words out. I chanced a glance at Alice just in time to see a smile break out on her face. She clapped her hands happily and started jumping up and down, and I flinched at the suddenness. I wasn't exactly used to quick movements like those for good reasons . . . She noticed and stopped immediately, spreading her arms and coming towards me. I flinched back again and she huffed.

"This is a pain," she said. "I scare you to the point of making you flinch, and then I forget again and try to comfort you just to make you flinch even more . . . I'm sorry." I shook my head.

"It's not your fault I'm like this," I whispered. "I'm not used to comfort. The only time anyone ever comes at me like that is to either hurt me or use me, which leads to me being hurt anyway." I looked at her from the corner of my eye, not knowing what to expect, but all I saw was sadness.

She slowly walked towards me and gently put a hand on my arm. I didn't flinch this time, and she proceeded to wrap her arms around me from my side. She put her head against my shoulder and I waited for something to happen, for her to squeeze me until I broke something, throw me against a wall, choke me, _anything_ . . . but nothing happened. She just held me while I stood there, completely stiff in my anxiety, and made no move to do what I would have expected on a normal basis.

She didn't let go, and I slowly relaxed as I finally realized she wasn't actually going to hurt me, that she was . . . different . . . from the other vampires. Different from what I expected. I knew they were different in their diet, but I never could have fathomed the difference she was wrapping around me at that moment. I slowly moved my arm so my hand was on her back, attempting to return the gesture, but I had no idea what I was doing. She backed up and moved until she was standing in front of me, a small, encouraging smile on her face, and she lifted her arms to me. I hesitated for only a moment before I took a step towards her, and she closed the gap, enveloping me in her embrace once more. I let my head fall until my forehead was resting on her shoulder and she just held me as we stood there, my body more relaxed than I had been in such a long time . . .

Such a long, long time . . .


	12. Chapter 11 Good

_Good_

"I really hoped Edward would be the one to tell you all of this, but hopefully he will get his chance soon enough," Alice said.

She was sitting across from me at the foot of my bed, and I was leaning against the headboard. Esme was sitting next to me, and Rosalie was next to Alice. She decided to call the others in instead of the conversation being between just the two of us, something about all of us needing to bond for some reason. Esme automatically made me feel safe, which left me slightly disoriented as I fought to stay indifferent. Eventually, I gave in, and she had yet to make me regret it. She had treated me just as my mother did, and the comfort that thought gave me overrode any feelings of hesitancy or nervousness.

Rosalie was like that condescending older sister that you knew loved you, but just didn't show it. I could feel her indifference fighting to hold back compassion, that it wasn't real, and I found I respected her for it. I could see some of myself in her somehow, and it made me want to get under that indifference, let her know she could be herself around me. It was ironic, seeing as though that was exactly what they were doing with me.

"Alice, I can't . . ." I broke off, not sure how to word what I wanted to say. She just gave me a sympathetic smile.

"I know. I thought it would be better coming from him before us, but it's fine. Like I said, hopefully he'll be able to tell you himself sometime," she said, patting my foot. "But the future isn't why we're here. The past is."

"And the best place to start," Esme said, "is at the very beginning." I nodded in response and Esme sighed, her eyes wandering to a time and place only she could reach. I waited for her to begin, and she did with yet another sigh.

"I met Edward when Carlisle changed me almost . . . eighty years ago, I think. After a while, each year reminds you of the last, I'm afraid." She gave a small laugh before she continued. "He was such a gentleman, Vixen. I know you cannot believe that after what you heard, but Edward knows how to be nothing else. His mother raised him to respect us women, and he has done so every day since his change back in 1918. He will not use a woman for his own pleasure, whether she is willing or not, and between the four of us, all of them are." At this, she and Alice giggled while Rosalie just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, he will only take a woman in such a way if the feeling is mutual, and take my word for it since you probably won't believe it at this point," Rosalie said, "he will ask until it ruins the mood whether the woman truly wants it. If he wants it but you don't, then nothing will happen. He will remain a gentleman and make no move to further the relationship beyond friendship. If he doesn't want it and the girl does, it's the same. The only difference is he will terminate any civility in him if the girl won't give up and throws herself at him. He has that problem with the sluts in high schools nowadays," Rosalie explained, shaking her head in disgust.

"There are even vampires that won't take no for an answer from him!" Alice said. "Just look at the situation with Tanya. She's been after him basically since he was changed, and that was almost a hundred years ago. She _still_ hasn't gotten him to say yes, and now that you're in the picture, she might as well give up. I don't think she will, though. Once she gets her mind set on something—or some_one_, in this case—she doesn't give up that easily. She-"

"Woah, hold on a second," I said, cutting her off with a wave of my hand. "What do you mean, now that I'm in the picture? What do I have to do with any of this?" I asked, my confusion making me nervous again.

"I know things, Vixen, remember?" she said, tapping her temple with a sly smile on her face. I gaped at her, my walls immediately dropping.

"What did you . . ." Her smile grew and I inhaled sharply. "You saw . . . me . . . and Edward . . ." I couldn't even finish the sentence. "There's no way that could happen . . . We aren't even the same species, Alice!" She just smiled knowingly and shook her head. All three of them stood to leave, moving towards the door. Rosalie and Esme stopped in the doorway, and Alice stood behind them with the door handle in her hand.

"Ever hear the saying 'Love knows no bounds,' Vixen? It certainly does apply to the two of you, even if you don't know it just yet. But you will, and you won't regret it. Sure, you'll fight it at first, and Edward won't push his luck with just getting you to talk to him, but in the end . . . Love will always find a way!" She sang the last words as she shut the door, and I just sat where I was staring at the slab of wood separating my room from the hall. The only thing I could think while I sat there?

She has _got_ to be crazy . . .

No way were Edward and I ever going to be together, especially romantically. Heck, we'd be lucky to make it to friends at this point. I took one step forward in giving my trust to him, and he did something to make me run ten steps back. Alice, Esme, and Rosalie gave me confidence that their family was not like the others, but I was not the kind of person to hand my trust to people like Halloween candy. They had to prove themselves worthy, otherwise there would always be a wall between me and them, whether they knew it or not. It was like a different version of my blocking ability. I could include some people inside, but they could only get in if I let them. Everyone else was kept out, no matter what they tried to do to get in.

I sighed loudly and got up, walking slowly over to my desk. I stood in front of my guitar, staring down at the polished wood, the long, gleaming neck, the strings that winked as the light hit them, and my fingers started twitching against my thigh. I gently picked up the instrument and sat down on my hope chest, leaning back against the foot board of my bed as my fingers teased the strings.

All of my feelings at that moment, confusion, hopelessness, desperation, flowed from my fingertips and out of my guitar as notes. The song was nothing and everything at that moment. I was able to focus on releasing my feelings through music, but not on the thoughts that caused them. It was my ultimate coping method, and not something I did often. Whenever I did, Demetri always knew things were bad, whether it was because I had just visited my parents or Aro was feeling unusually generous with giving me to his men to play with. I closed my eyes and continued to play, letting my fingers choose the melody.

It started off slow, depressing, and bleak, but after a verse, it started to change, the notes lightening and bringing the mood with it. I didn't know why it was getting happier, but I just went with it, reveling in the foreign feelings of hope and happiness. It was like I knew something was going to happen, something good to change my life for the better, but I had no idea what it was, and didn't try to figure it out and ruin the moment. The emotions flowing from the strings to my ears were ones I hadn't been able to feel for a long time, and I never wanted it to end. The last notes reverberated in my mind, telling me I couldn't lose hope just yet, and I wrapped that sense of security around me like a life vest.

"That was beautiful, princess," someone said from behind me. I spun towards the door, subconsciously careful not to hit my guitar against anything, and smiled when I saw Demetri smiling back at me. I stood up and placed the instrument back on its rack and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he encased me in his.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you these past few days, but I didn't want to make anything worse by disobeying Aro to do so," he said, laying his head on mine. I squeezed him reassuringly.

"Don't be sorry, Demetri. I completely understand. Edward . . . he was good to me that first night, and apparently also the second, even though I don't know that for myself," I responded into his shirt. He patted the side of my head.

"He is good, Vix. No matter what you see or hear him doing, it will always be for a good and selfless reason. I refuse to find out what he is doing taking you from Aro, just so that Aro has trouble finding out, but I know he has no intentions of harming you. Please, remember that and don't give up on him just yet," he said against my hair. I hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Okay. I won't just let him in, but I'll keep my mind open for now. If he gives me any reason to not trust him, though, you know he won't get another, right?" I asked, leaning back and looking up at him. Demetri gave me a sad smile and nodded.

"I know, and I made sure he does, too," he whispered, making me tense.

"You talked to him about me?" I asked incredulously. He gave me a sly smile and nodded, but his smile turned sad.

"After the stunt he pulled with Aro, I wanted to make sure he knew of my feelings. I know him too well to even entertain the thought that he would use you, so I gave him the . . . _big brother_ talk. You know, the whole I'll-kick-the-crap-out-of-you-if-you-hurt-my-little-sister thing, but it's more like I'll-rip-you-slowly-into-little-pieces-and-burn-each-of-them-individually-while-I-hold-your-head-up-so-you-can-watch talk."

"Aww . . ." I said, giving him a sad smile, "You threatened to kill a guy I have no interest in . . . That's so sweet of you!" I gave him a kiss on the cheek and he just shook his head, tossing me over his shoulder and proceeding to dangle me by my ankle out the window. I alternated between screaming and laughing as he started swinging me back and forth.

"You'd better be grateful I even did it in the first place!" he yelled down at me.

"I am! I am! I swear! Please, pull me back up!" I yelled back, continuing to laugh.

"You're just saying that, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" This made him laugh, and he pulled me back up. I collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter and Demetri stood over me, his arms crossed over his chest as he smiled and shook his head at me. He eventually sat down on the floor and I stopped laughing. I couldn't get the smile off my face, though, and it looked like neither could he.

"Thank you for that," I said softly, still laying on my back. He just shook his head.

"It was nice to hear you laugh like that again, Vixen. It's been too long."

"I don't remember ever laughing like that here, Demetri," I countered sadly. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Me neither, but I hoped you would go along with it. Would've been nice to at least pretend I helped you enjoy yourself enough to forget," he responded, hanging his head. I sat up and patted his knee.

"You did, Demetri. Please don't feel bad. It's my own fault I'm here to begin with," I said.

"Maybe you forget, but I'm the one that told Felix to bring you and your parents to the Masters. I could have told him to just forget about it, but I didn't," he said, his voice full of self-contempt. I crawled to his side and wrapped my arms around his.

"You couldn't have known, Demetri. Besides, you would have gotten in trouble. Chelsea knew about me being out there too, and she's the one who told Felix to get me, not you," I reasoned. He just shook his head again, his shoulder-length hair brushing my forehead.

"I have to go, Vix. Aro has a reconnaissance mission for me and a few of the others, but I wanted to stop in before I left," he said, giving me half a smile. I nodded sadly and sighed.

"Do you have to?" I asked, knowing the answer. He knew I did too, and just smiled again before standing up. He offered me his hand and I put mine in it so he could pull me up.

"So, where's my new master?" I asked sarcastically. Demetri gave me a look and I just shrugged.

"He went hunting to give us some privacy. He wouldn't just go when I told him his eyes were getting dark, so I kind of used our conversation as an excuse. Hope you don't mind," Demetri said hesitantly. I shook my head, my eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"What do you mean, his eyes were getting dark? Hasn't he been hunting?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. Demetri gave me a sly smile.

"Oh, so now you care about him?" he asked in rebuttal, and I hit his arm.

"I'm serious, Demetri!" I huffed, and he laughed.

"Yeah, I know. That's my point!" I hit him again and he flinched, faking pain. He waved a hand in surrender when I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to the side.

"He's been worried," he answered vaguely. I waited for him to continue, and waved him on when he didn't. He sighed loudly.

"He doesn't know how you're going to react to him after what happened in the meeting room. He doesn't know what you heard, what you think about him now, or if you're going to be willing to have any kind of interaction with him after that. He's not even looking for whatever level of relationship you had before. Edward just wants you to at least talk to him," he explained, looking out the window and then looking at me. I just stared at him, letting what he told me sink in.

"He . . . he was . . . _starving_ himself because of _me_?" I asked, putting my hand on my chest. Demetri saw where I was going with that and shook his head abruptly.

"No! No, Vixen, not because of you, because of his worry over you. He doesn't want your life to change because of what he did, especially since he can't just come out and say it, or even think about it himself when Aro could just touch him or you and find out. Vixen, it's _not your fault_," he said tensely, his hands grabbing my biceps as he tried to get me to listen to him. I looked at him for a second before looking at the floor and nodding once, but I knew he didn't believe it. I didn't believe it either. He looked outside and sighed heavily, rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

"I really have to go now, Vixen, but please, keep what I said in mind. I'll be back as soon as I can," he said, kissing my forehead. I hugged him tightly around the middle and he returned my embrace, but all too soon, he released me and removed my arms from around him.

"You'll come see me when you get back?" I asked, and he nodded.

"First thing I'll do," he answered, and closed the door behind him.

I sighed and sat on the edge of my bed, letting myself fall back. I flung my arm over my eyes and just laid there, a nagging feeling pulsing in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know what it was from, but I knew it couldn't be anything good. Something was going to happen soon, and I had a bad feeling I wasn't going to like it.

I sighed again as I thought about what Demetri said, how he still trusted Edward even after everything that happened. He seemed so sure Edward wasn't ever going to hurt me, no matter what front he put up for Aro. He thought Edward had a plan, something he hadn't even allowed himself to fully think about just to keep Aro from finding out. If that were true . . . would it mean Edward really was as good as everyone was trying to convince me of? I didn't know, and my head hurt when I even attempted to figure it out.

I sighed loudly again, just as a knock sounded on my door. I jumped at the unexpected noise, cursing myself for not hearing them approach, and answered the door. To my utter shock, it was Edward on the other side. His hair was even more disheveled than usual, and his face was taut with worry. He was pacing back and forth a few feet from my door, and his hand roughly travelled through his hair as I watched. He seemed distraught over something, so much so that he didn't even notice me standing in the doorway.

"Edward?" I said hesitantly, not sure how he was going to react. He tensed and quickly spun around, making me flinch back expecting a blow that never came. He just looked at me, his eyes undecided but still concerned, and went back to pacing. I stood there waiting for him to tell me why he was knocking on my door, but he seemed to slip back into his own little world. It was like I wasn't actually standing there, like he thought he was imagining me opening the door and actually talking to him. I said his name again, slightly stronger this time since I knew he wasn't there to hurt me, but he just shook his head in denial.

"Edward!" I yelled, taking a step forward and poking him in the arm. He jumped and looked at me, his eyes finally seeing me with the contact. I immediately moved back into the doorway when I caught his attention, and crossed my arms over my chest defensively, keeping my gaze down and to the side of him. "What do you want?"

"I . . . I need to . . . ask you something," he said, hesitating like he was trying to find the right words. I felt my shield instinctively clench around me as my stomach dropped. I could only imagine what he was going to ask me, but I waited for him to continue instead of voicing my suspicions.

"I . . . found something . . . while I was hunting," he continued, "and I was hoping you could . . . help me with it." His hesitation and his words made me think he might have killed someone, some human, and wanted help getting rid of the body, but when I inhaled deeper, I smelled nothing but the musky, woodsy smell of animal blood. I still didn't look at him, but he must have seen something change in my stance, because he took a step forward and went to touch me. I took three steps back, putting myself in the perfect position to slam the door in his face.

"Wait, don't close the door," he said softly, so as not to give an order. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." I glanced up at him from the corner of my eye and saw the sincerity looking back at me. I put my gaze to the floor again, and he sighed.

"I didn't kill anyone. I was hunting when I came across something that reminded me . . . that I thought you would be interested in helping me with," he corrected, piquing my curiosity. I wanted to know what he was going to say at first, but not enough to ask and kept quiet. "Will you help me?" he asked.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked in response, and his brows crinkled together.

"Yes?" he answered, his statement turning into a question in his confusion. "I thought I already told you that." I just looked at him and shook my head before looking to the ground again.

"What is it, then? This thing that might interest me?" I asked the floor tiles.

"Can I ask you a question first, Vixen? About your ability?" he said, bending down to try and catch my eye. I kept my gaze on the floor and shrugged.

"How specific is your ability? When you shift, could you shift to an animal that is injured, starving, nursing, anything like that? Or is it just what and how you look?" he asked, making my interest spike even higher for a different reason.

"I could, if need be," I answered hesitantly. I had no idea where he was going with this, but figured he would tell me when he told me what was going on, which he had successfully avoided doing.

"Okay, well, that's good. Follow me, I'll show you what this is about," he said, walking by me and jumping out the window. I followed him, jumping and shifting before I hit the ground, and felt the electricity in the air as a storm made its approach. I could hear the far-off thunder, and estimated only about twenty minutes before the fast-moving storm hit.

We ran through the forest for only a few minutes before Edward started slowing, and stopped a few feet from a long-fallen tree. I looked at his back in question, and he turned slowly with his finger over his lips. He beckoned me forward and I took only one step before I heard it. I looked at him again when I realized what it was, shock written all over my face. One quick glance gave me the answer to what I was seeing, the dead vixen only feet from her den the only explanation I needed. I could smell the wolf all over her and around the hole under the tree trunk, my heart squeezing at the thought of what happened.

I approached the den slowly, swishing my tail back and forth to spread my scent and warn the kits of my presence. I could smell their fear, and yipped to them, letting them know it was okay. I felt the wind brushing against my fur from behind me, and gestured for Edward to move away. The growing breeze was bringing his scent right into the den, and the kits immediately calmed when his scent was gone. I yipped again and heard them shuffling around in the leaves in their nest before I took a few steps closer.

I laid down on the ground so I could see into the den and they could see me, and waited for them to come out on their own. It took a few minutes for them to move again after I put myself in their line of sight, but the loud crack of thunder that sounded over head caused all five of them to burst from the den at once, running over and under each other. The rolling ball of reddish brown hair stopped when it ran into my chest, and the five kits piled under my paws.

I looked at Edward, who was looking down at the babies with wonder. I was pleasantly surprised at his expression, tilting my head as I watched his eyes. I don't know how someone like him cared about something so small, especially when he needed animals just like these babies' mother to survive. They were so insignificant to others like him, not even worth their time, but he ran all the way back to the castle and risked further damaging my relationship with him by knocking on my door before I was ready to talk to him in order to help these little fox kits . . . Maybe . . . _just_ maybe . . .

He really was good.


	13. Chapter 12 Settling In

_Settling In_

We managed to get the kits back to my room in one trip after convincing them that Edward wasn't going to snack on them, which took a while. The storm helped a lot, the crashes of thunder getting more and more frequent. I carried the smallest back in my jaws by the scruff of his neck, and Edward carried the other four in a sack he made out of his shirt that he carried in his arms so they didn't have to watch the woods fly by as we ran. I jumped from the tree into the window, and Edward waited until I safely landed to follow.

When we set all of them down on the comforter, I got a better look at them. They only looked to be three weeks old, just old enough to get their feet somewhat under them and wobble around. They would still need to nurse for a few weeks, but I figured I could wean them a week or so early and get them back into the woods to teach them how to be little foxes.

There were two girls and three boys in the bunch, one of the boys being the runt of the litter. Even as they lay on the bed, he was the one slightly apart from the group. I laid down next to him and he immediately pressed his little self against me, feeling slightly cold even with our fur between us. I picked him up and placed him in front of me, laying my head over him and covering as much of his wet body as I could. It had started raining on the way back, the storm clouds just starting to drop their burden when we reached the castle. The others had been covered in Edward's shirt, so they were a little damp, but nothing like the smallest of them. The lines of dampness actually made him look like a shifter baby, the lines darker than the rest of his fur. I tried to sense anything strange about him, but there was nothing obvious. Then again, I wouldn't be able to since I wasn't his actual mother. If he was, I'd be able to tell when he was a little older, or if he decided I was his mother.

His body shook violently under me, and I started licking away the water seeping through his fur. He gave a slight protest when I first lifted my head, but he quieted when he realized what I was doing. I could see Edward from the corner of my eye, just standing a few feet from the end of the bed, watching. It was slightly awkward to have him watch me like that, but I couldn't just tell him to leave, especially when he was the one who told me where to find them in the first place.

_Can you get a towel and wipe the water off the others?_ I asked without looking up, and he nodded, acting like he was unable to speak. He flashed away and back within a second, a fluffy towel in his hands. He stood in the same place he had been, looking from the towel to the kits and back again, unsure of what to do next. It was kind of pathetic, a vampire not knowing how to take care of little baby foxes. I shifted slightly until I was a nursing mother, and placed the little runt next to me. He immediately latched on and started eating, making me wonder how much he actually got to eat with his siblings around. I saw Edward tense when he saw, drawing up more questions that didn't need answering at this exact moment.

_Edward, just pick one up and wipe the water off them. That is, if you're done staring,_ I said, making him jump and look away. He looked at the four balls of fur trying to find their footing on the uneven bedspread, constantly falling over as soon as they lifted a foot, and picked up the one closest to him. The little boy wiggled in Edward's hand, and he looked to me for help. I could tell he was uncomfortable and nervous about hurting him, his shoulders tense and his movements with the kit awkward.

_Sit down on the bed and put him in your lap, if you feel like you're going to drop him,_ I said, humor in my voice. I surprised myself with it, but said nothing to try to change it.

Edward nodded gratefully and sat down with his squirmy bundle, setting the fox in his lap and gently running his hands over it with the towel. It was—and I couldn't believe I was letting myself think this—_sweet_, seeing such a formidable being become so flustered trying to care for something that weighed only a little more than a pound. He was like . . . like Lenny, from that old book _Of Mice and Men_, the one that tried to keep his strength under control but couldn't. Of course, Edward wasn't mentally handicapped, nor did he like petting soft things, or so I assumed, but the gentle giant concept was still there.

He put the little kit down and picked up another, this one a girl, and did the same with her, his shoulders slowly relaxing as he successfully dried the babies without hurting them. As he set the last one back down with the others, they tumbled their way over to me to nurse. The smallest had finished and fallen asleep, so I picked him up and placed him in front of me again so the others wouldn't push or step all over him. I looked up to find Edward sitting Indian style on the foot of the bed, his back against the footboard and his eyes watching nothing in particular. He looked like he was watching the kits, but his eyes were unfocused. I was curious as to what he was thinking, and asked him before I could even think of stopping myself.

_Edward . . . what are you thinking_? My voice echoed in my mind as I berated myself for saying anything. He started, like me asking such a question surprised him, and he blinked to focus his eyes again.

"I don't really know . . ." he responded. "I guess I'm trying to wrap my mind around what's going on. We're in the same room, somewhat comfortable even in each other's presence, having conversations, albeit mostly one-sided. It's a big jump from where we were just a half hour ago, don't you think?" I nodded in acknowledgment, thinking over what he said. He had a good point.

_Well, I've . . . done some thinking_, I said, looking down at the sleeping bundle in front of me. I could feel his gaze as he waited for more, and for some reason, I gave it to him.

_Your mother and sisters paid me a visit and told me a little about you, how your mother raised you and that you've held on to those lessons even after your change. And even with what just happened, I've thought even more that maybe . . . maybe you . . . _are_ different than the others,_ I finally admitted in a mental sigh. I looked up at him without moving my head to see a completely shocked look on his face.

_You've kept your word about not giving me orders, about letting me do what I want, and you've kept to yourself instead of pushing yourself on me like you could have_, I explained softly, still not meeting his eyes.

_You act so differently than the others, I think I denied you were actually being sincere with your actions. Since the very beginning, you've treated me like an equal instead of an inferior, and you said something that's stuck with me since the words left your mouth. I admit, I thought you confirmed my initial thoughts with what happened in the meeting room, but you haven't changed from who you were before then. With what you just did, helping these kids, you showed me even more that you're different. By no stretch of the imagination do I completely trust you, but . . . now I know I don't have to walk on eggshells around you for fear of punishment, deserved or not_. I paused, but he said nothing so I continued. _I think . . . I think I should thank you for that peace of mind._ He jumped at this, his eyes growing impossibly wider in response. At first he didn't say anything, but after a second or two his eyes softened and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You don't have to thank me for anything. You shouldn't be treated this way to begin with, so I'm just trying to do what I can to help. If I could get you out of here, I would, but I don't want to make things worse in case it doesn't work," he said softly. He stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "Do you really think I'm different?" I gave him a blank look, moving my gaze from him to the kits and back again before quirking my foxy eyebrow. I didn't know how it looked to him, but he got the idea. He gave me a shy smile, the first time I'd seen one of those on him, and shook his head.

"I can see how a big, bad vampire caring for baby animals could make you think that," he said, chuckling. I gave my fox version of a short laugh, something like a bark.

_I would have expected you or anyone else here to have just left them there to fend for themselves, but you came back and got me to help them. I don't think anyone else would have done that. Besides, you could have ordered me to do whatever you wanted, and you have yet to say a word before today, in the form of an order or anything else._ I looked down again and sighed. _You were actually giving me a choice in approaching you_.

"I don't like to force my presence where it isn't wanted," he said, just as the four larger kits finished with me. One wandered over to him on shaky legs as I shifted back to normal, and he raised his hands like someone was telling him he was being arrested. She climbed up into his lap, laying down against his stomach and resting her head on his thigh. He looked at me in surprise and shrugged, gesturing with my head towards one other, the other girl, who was making her way over to him too. Edward stayed perfectly still as she settled herself next to her sister and promptly fell asleep. He stayed frozen for a second more before slowly lowering his arms, his eyes expressing his awe of the little animals as he settled one of his hands to rest on them. They sighed contentedly and a smile slowly spread across his face.

_They are amazingly trusting in their innocence_, I said wistfully. _I would give anything to have their peace._

"You will, Vixen," he whispered. I think it was supposed to be to himself, so I didn't comment. "If it's the last thing I do, you will have your freedom and the happiness you deserve."

It's been five days since Edward and I brought the five fox kits back to the castle, and they loved him. Any time he would leave the room, all of them would wobble behind him and scratch at the door until I distracted them in some way until he came back. I would play with them until they got hungry, and then they would nap for an hour or two before starting the cycle all over again. I was amazed at their reaction to him, especially since they should have been getting predator vibes from him, but they didn't seem to notice. As soon as I told them he was okay that first day, they haven't doubted him for a moment. I kept telling myself I could learn a thing or two from them, and, involuntarily, I was.

All the time Edward spent with the kits meant he was also spending that time with me. In my room. Just the two of us and the five kids. It wasn't a situation I ever would have thought I would be in, but it was surprisingly . . . pleasant. Edward and I became more and more comfortable with each other, which was a real surprise the moment I actually realized it was happening. He was actually spending more time in my room than anywhere else, only leaving when I was going to sleep, and when he went hunting, he would bring back whatever he had drained for me, since I absolutely refused to leave the kits in the castle without me and I didn't want to shift in front of them just yet so I could eat. The first time he brought one of his hunts to me was also the first time I saw him with his fangs extended. I had growled and spat at him until he calmed down enough for them to recede, and he explained his idea.

He was sitting with the kits now as I got out of my first shower since we went to rescue them, and of course I forgot my clothes. God just enjoyed shitting on my life, and this was just another entertaining scenario for him. I sighed loudly and wrapped myself in a towel. I threw my hair up in a wet mass of a ponytail and stepped around the bathroom door, not opening it all the way, and lipped into my closet without making much noise. He wasn't paying much attention anyway, sitting Indian-style with all five kits in his lap and his head back against the edge of the bed. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping, but I knew he wasn't.

I left the door cracked about a foot in case I needed to get out fast for some reason, and took a random shirt and jeans from the hangers and shelves. The shirt turned out to be a baby blue tee whose neckline plunged to just below the top of my cleavage in a U-shape. The material between my breasts was slit to where the bottom of a bra would be, and was held together by little metal clasps with space in between that worked as a bra with the tightened material around my chest and the strip that cinched the shirt in the same way a bra would just under my chest. Aro had called it my "peep show" tee. How creative . . .

"Vixen . . ." Edward's voice called hesitantly. I moved half around the door as I buttoned my jeans and pulled up the zipper to see him staring down at the not-so-small runt of the litter, a confused look on his face. I sprinted over, thinking something was wrong, and knelt beside him.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked, picking the little one up and twisting him this way and that as I looked for injuries. I could feel my heart beating against my chest as I waited for his response, clutching the bundle of fur against me when I didn't find anything wrong. Edward put his hand on my shoulder, making me look at him in surprise and anxiety. He had never touched me besides when he was taking care of my injuries, and the sharp spark I felt spread through my body at the contact was unexpected. I could see his confusion grow for a moment before he went back to the matter at hand. He had felt it too.

"Look at him, Vixen, all of him, and tell me if you see anything different compared to the others," he said, removing his hand when he finished speaking. My body instant grew cold and I shivered, goose bumps breaking out over my body.

I did as he said, looking from the runt in my arms to the four in Edward's lap and back again, my mind registering nothing but the feeling of Edward's hand on me. On the third round of my eyes moving back and forth, I finally realized what Edward had been talking about. The kit I was holding was much bigger than the others, and he had started out as the smallest of them all. He actually looked two or three weeks older than the others now. He also still had those darker stripes in his fur, the ones I had assumed were from him getting wet form the rain but hadn't paid any attention to since. My heart started beating faster, and my head shot up to look at Edward's serious—and seriously confused—face.

"He's . . . he's got shifter stripes . . ." I said, looking back down to the little guy. He had frozen in my grasp, not knowing who I was, but had instantly relaxed when he recognized my scent. His head was currently pressed against the front of my shirt as I lightly ran my fingers over the darker red lines across his back and I looked back up at Edward, who nodded.

"That's not all," he said, running a hand through his already mussed up hair. He sighed loudly, like he was unsure of whether he wanted to say anything, but he let the words go in a rush. "I think I just heard his thoughts, and I can't do that with normal animals. I can read their body language like I would read a human or vampire mind, but I actually heard him. Didn't you say I wouldn't be able to read your mind? So why would I be able to hear him?"

"I have a shield that protects my mind and body from abilities and powers that would affect me, like yours and Master's, and our kind are naturally protected so we can hear each other, but someone who can read minds couldn't unless we let them. He must have let you in without realizing what he was doing," I explained, looking down at him again, but my gaze shot up to Edward's again. "What did he say?"

"It wasn't really words, just the 'm' sound, like he was trying to say something. That was the only sound though, so I don't know what he was trying to say," Edward responded, following my gaze back down to my little not-a-fox-baby.

I focused my mind on his, trying to see into it, and I met no resistance. I was wondering how Edward would have heard him before me, but I remembered my parents telling me a baby's thoughts and mind needed to gain strength before it would be able to communicate with anyone over great distances like adults. I must have been too far away to hear his first thought at the time, but I wasn't moving away from him again until I did. I settled my back against the bed, mirroring Edward's position, and sighed. I visibly jumped when I heard something coming from the little bundle, a repeating of the "m" sound, just like Edward said. He pressed his face harder into my chest as he kept up with the sound, and my heart felt like it was going to burst.

_Mom_, I thought to him, and he nuzzled his little head impossible harder, his mind filled with happiness.

_Momomomomom_, he repeated in one long word. I purred, pulling my knees to my chest and rubbing my cheek against the top of his head.

_Baby, baby, baby_, I repeated back. He sighed and completely relaxed against me, like a blob in my arms, and instantly fell asleep.

I couldn't stop purring and looked up at Edward in ecstasy. He was smiling back, happiness for me plain on his face and the tension-free set of his shoulders. He started to raise his arm, like he was going to wrap it around my shoulders, but caught himself with his arm half-way up. He looked at me in apology, but I gave him a small smile in return, still purring like a nursing kitten, and gently rested my head on his shoulder. He draped his arm around me, rubbing his thumb on my bicep, and a soft humming filled my body from the inside. The warmth was back, and I embraced it. I embraced vampire contact for the first time in six years from someone I just met, and I enjoyed it.

As I drifted off to sleep against Edward, I couldn't help but think he was settling himself in for the long haul, whether I liked it or not.


	14. Chapter 13 Grief

_***Rated M Content***_

_Grief_

It had been two weeks since Edward and I rescued the four fox kits and the baby shifter—now called Caleb—and I had yet to hear anything from Demetri regarding his mission. It also happened to be the seven year anniversary of my parents' and my capture, as well as the day before my twenty-fifth birthday, really setting the mood for a suckish day.

Edward hadn't come in yet, probably getting me breakfast like he did every day, and the kits were letting me know they wanted theirs. I shifted and let them nurse, watching Edward come in just as they finished. He had a covered plate and a bottle of water in his hand, and waited until I shifted back before handing it to me. I set the kits on the floor so I could eat in peace, wolfing down the eggs, ham, and toast in less than three minutes. The water bottle was next, the bottle collapsing as I drank without pausing for a breath.

"You know, I think you just broke your record for finishing a meal with that one," Edward said, tilting his head as he looked down at me. He was standing only a foot away, and was bordering on looming over me, making me distinctly aware of the super low neckline of the pajama shirt—basically a plain tank top—I had worn to bed. Edward had made no advances towards me in the past two weeks, but now I was used to brushes of contact without expecting some kind of injury to result. He hadn't touched me as much as he did when we found out about Caleb not being your average fox. He was letting me take everything at my own pace, which I greatly appreciated.

"Ha ha," I responded, tossing the bone-dry bottle into the trash. "You try eating for six and tell me how it feels." That shut him up, and he set my plate on the little table by the door. He had set it up so one of the human servants would come up and get the dirty dishes once a day after dinner. The servant changed every day, and I refused to let myself think of why.

"So . . ." he started off slowly, "what's on the agenda for today?" I shrugged just as Demetri's face popped into my mind. I felt my mouth twitch in sadness, and he must have noticed because he sat down next to me, brushing his fingertips over the skin of my arm. "What is it?" he asked softly, and I sighed.

"I'm worried," I answered vaguely, and he raised an eyebrow. I sighed again as my now full stomach tightened with anxiety. "I haven't heard anything from Demetri in almost two and a half weeks. He never spends that long on a mission, and if he did, he would contact me somehow." I paused, looking from my lap up to his concerned face. "I . . . have a bad feeling . . . that something bad happened . . . or is going to."

"That's because something is," a hesitant voice said from the doorway behind us. We both turned to see little Alice standing in the doorway with her hands clasped in front of her. She looked like she was still debating whether or not to tell us what she was talking about, but Edward's stifled gasp told me she wasn't really trying to hide it from both of us, just me.

"You've got to be kidding. He wouldn't do that," Edward said in a whisper, disbelief obvious in his tone. Alice shook her head slowly.

"I wish I was, Edward, but I see nothing else happening. This is going to happen, no matter what," she said, but I still had no idea what was going on. Edward shot up from the bed and paced in front of me, the kits huddling against the wall as his tension rolled over them. I kept calm and they ran over to me, laying around and over my feet. Caleb climbed up my leg and pressed himself against my stomach.

"There's nothing we can do to prevent it?" he asked, not stopping to look at either one of us. Alice shook her head again.

"No, nothing. I've looked into all possible options, but it still ends the same."

"What are you talking about?" I asked quietly. Edward kept pacing, his eyes not looking at anything in particular. I recognized it as his "thinking" look, and turned to Alice instead. I asked again, slightly louder, but her eyes were blank as she looked to the future for whatever had them so worked up. I sighed loudly.

"Edward, what's going on?" I asked, standing with Caleb against my chest. He tucked his face into the side of my neck, hiding himself in my hair and surrounding himself with my scent to calm him. I was now less than calm, watching the two vampires completely ignore me.

"Edward!" I said sharply, touching his arm lightly. He stopped and looked at me, his eyes full of pain, regret, and sadness. He took a step towards me, but I turned to the side, putting my shoulder between us in defense. He stepped back, but I stayed how I was, Caleb farther away from this emotionally agitated Edward. I still wasn't used to him touching me when he wasn't calm, and he usually asked before he tried. Whatever was going on was really messing with him. He sighed and roughly ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends in frustration.

"Aro sent Demetri out on that mission, but he has a . . . surprise . . . waiting for him when he gets back. Alice has looked ahead, and even if we try to prevent it or interfere in any way, it's still going to happen," he explained slowly, but still avoided telling me exactly what this "surprise" was. I waited for him to continue, my heart beating out of my chest in anxiety, and he finally started speaking again with another sigh.

"Aro plans to kill him, Vixen. When he returns from his mission, Aro is going to have the guard members debriefing with him do it, and they're arriving in ten minutes." I gasped loudly, my vision going black from distress. I started breathing shallower and louder, to the point where I was hyperventilating and the room was spinning.

Why would Aro want Demetri killed? He hasn't disobeyed an order, and that's basically the only thing anyone could do wrong besides expose the vampires. Even when he didn't want to, Demetri obeyed Aro. What had he done to deserve death? He was one of Aro's best! He even had an ability! Aro takes so much time looking for vampires to make his guard stronger, so why would he get rid of one? It made no sense whatsoever, but Edward said it was going to happen no matter what. I was going to lose the first friend I made here, and there was nothing I could do to stop it . . .

I heard a buzzing in the back of my mind, like someone was talking from really far away, but I ignored it. I couldn't care less about what whoever it was had to say. I embraced the black, swirling expanse of nothing, but that buzzing was insistent. The swirling increased for a brief moment and stopped, the buzzing getting louder, but I still didn't respond. All I could see was Demetri's face the last time I saw him, right before he left two weeks ago. He hadn't wanted to leave, and now that I was looking back, I realized I had actually felt like something was going to happen even then. A stirring in my stomach that I hadn't noticed that day as I tried to get him to stay as long as he could.

"_Vixen_ . . ." the buzz seemed to say. I figured I was hearing things and sighed, watching my life fall apart around me with the news of Demetri's impending death as I watched. The only thing that passed through my mind? I never expected to watch so idly as my world crashed and burned around me.

"_Vixen_," the buzz said again, only this time, it was slightly clearer. I couldn't deny that it was my name this time, so I listened for it again.

Something small and wet brushed my chin again and again, moving over my face, and the buzz was louder, sounding more and more like a voice. It was talking incoherently, the only word that was clear being my name, but as I focused on the sound, I felt like I recognized the voice. It was male, and a face slowly started developing before my eyes.

Sharply angled face, smooth jaw, straight nose, wild bronze hair, gold eyes, a concerned frown . . . _Edward_. I blinked once to clear away the last of the blackness, realizing with a jolt that I wasn't seeing him in my mind. I had opened my eyes.

A little black nose poked itself into my vision, and Caleb's tongue licked my cheek again. I closed my eyes and turned my head away, but he was persistent. It wasn't until I went to push him away that I noticed a few things: one, I was fully on the bed now, when I had been sitting on the edge before; second, I was laying down on top of the blankets; and third, Edward's hands were holding my shoulders. My heart stopped for a beat as my mind ran wild with what he could have done to me, but my common sense caught up with my imagination soon after. He must have been shaking me . . .

"Vixen, are you alright?" he asked again, his face returning to my line of sight. Red fur quickly blocked him from me again, Caleb happy to see me awake.

"What happened?" I asked as I tried to sit up. Black spots invaded my vision and I groaned, laying back down and throwing my arm over my eyes. I was fairly sure I passed out, but I wanted to make sure. Edward confirmed my suspicion, but his face as he said it just brought a new bout of worries. He noticed my confusion and sighed softly, sitting down next to me.

"Edward . . . What . . ." I started, but an alarm went off in my head, and a pain like someone stabbing me burst in my heart. I gasped loudly and clutched my chest, Edward immediately putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Vixen, what's wrong? What's going on?" Edward asked, but I couldn't answer. I gasped for breath as the pain thumped in time with my rapid heartbeat, and I knew what was happening not that far away.

My best friend was dying.

I held onto Vixen's shoulder as she curled her body in, clutching her chest in agony. A sharp keening sound came from her throat as she laid there, and I felt absolutely useless. I tried to get her to talk to me, to tell me what was going on, but she wouldn't—or couldn't—answer. Caleb was laying behind her head, nuzzling into her hair and trying to comfort her, but she didn't seem to notice. Her chest heaved with pain, and nothing seemed to be able to distract her from it. I wanted to comfort her, touch her so she knew she wasn't alone, but I didn't want her to panic even more. All I could do was sit next to her with my hand sitting lightly on her shoulder, the only contact I was willing to risk. Alice was standing in front of me with her hands fisted under her chin and sadness in her eyes. Venom pooled along her eyelids, but did not fall.

"I'm so sorry, Edward. I thought you should know before it happened, but I didn't expect her to react like this," she whispered, slowly shaking her head.

"Neither of us could have known," I responded just as softly, shaking my head back at her.

We both stayed right where we were as Vixen's heart rate and breathing finally started slowing down, but then the silent tears started. Neither of us had any idea what had happened, and I watched as Alice looked ahead to see if she could find anything. It only took a few seconds to find out, and I sucked in a deep breath when I heard.

"She felt Demetri die," I whispered, as Alice nodded her head in despair. I ran my free hand through my hair and tugged roughly on the ends in frustration.

I really knew nothing about her, if she was able to do that . . . What else didn't I know? It was easier to list what I did, which was really nothing. I knew she couldn't say no to an order given by a male, she had a shield around her mind that protected her from my power, and that she was able to feel Demetri's death. The real question in all of this was . . . _how?_ How did she feel Demetri die? But I wouldn't find the answer by thinking about it; I'd have to ask her.

"Vixen, please talk to me," I whispered, my thumb moving softly over her shoulder. Her body had collapsed from its tensed state when her pain ended, and now the only movement was the shallow rise and fall of her chest and the tears still running down her face. She made no move to respond. I went to move her hair from in front of her face and she flinched away, so I put my hands in my lap. Alice set her hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at her solemnly.

"She is going to need some time to herself, Edward. I see her staying just as she is as long as someone is here with her. If we leave, she'll be able to process what just happened," she said, but I didn't want to leave her like this. Alice kept her hand on my shoulder, her grip tightening as she got ready to pull me away if she had to.

"All of us will go hunting, and by the time we get back in a few hours' time, she should be a little better than this. Functioning, at least, but still better than this." I still wasn't convinced, but when I went to put my hand on Vixen's shoulder again, she flinched so hard I stood up. I looked pleadingly at Alice, but she just shook her head in despair.

"She has no idea who is here or where she is right now, Edward. She doesn't know it's you and not someone else," she explained, and I could have burst into tears at the thought. I gave her one last longing look, glancing at Caleb, who was still laying behind her head, before I followed Alice to the door. I stopped and turned around once more, looking at the little shifter cub, and said, "Take care of your mom, okay?" He nodded his head once and I sighed before walking out and closing the door behind me.

_Bye bye, daddy_.

Pain. Absolute agony burning through everything I was. It slowly burned down, but I still felt it like it was fresh. Even when the pain was completely gone from my body, my mind clung to the feeling, like it wanted to go with Demetri to wherever he went. I was so scared after my realization hit, so scared of what was going to happen to me now that my only friend was gone that nothing else mattered. He had been my protector there, the person that distracted the others long enough for them to forget whatever it was they wanted to do to me, and now he was gone. There was no one to protect me.

My face was soaking wet with tears, and I felt someone's hand on me. I didn't know how long they had been there, or who they were, but their hand was on me. I kept my body still in an attempt to keep them from doing anything to me, since it felt like they were just sitting . . . wherever it was we were, but I sensed a cool hand coming towards me anyway. I flinched, squeezing my eyes shut, but the contact never came. It reached for me again, and I flinched violently, trying to get away but unable to move. And again, it never touched me. Thankfully, whoever it was stood up and moved away. I heard something that sounded like mumbled words, but didn't respond in any way. I didn't want to give them any reason to stick around.

I didn't know how long I laid there doing nothing but fading in and out of consciousness, but it didn't feel like very long before a door opened and someone approached again. This person grabbed me before I could even think to flinch. The vampire had me by my face, forcing me onto my back and to look at them. Their nails dug into my skin, and they giggled lightly when she saw the bead of blood I felt emerge. I heard a small, sharp bark come from behind my head, followed by a smack and thump as a whimper came from the animal.

"Stupid little beast," the female vampire said with a sneer. "You're lucky I have better things to do than kill you." My heart stuttered as a small red fox appeared in my mind. She was talking to Caleb. I tried to get up, to protect him from being hurt again, but she just smashed her hand to my chest to keep me from moving. I blinked away the blackness I had been wallowing in to see Tanya standing above me, a sickly sweet smile on her face.

"Hello, bitch. Miss me?" she said, pressing harder on my chest until a crack resounded through the room. I cried out once, my breaths rapid and shallow as every small movement reignited the fire in my chest. Caleb growled loudly and Tanya laughed, lifting her hand from me long enough to take a step and kick him. Right out the window.

"_NO_!" I screamed as I tried to run to him, but I only managed to watch his little body disappear below the windowsill. I fell off the bed, paralyzing pain bursting through my chest as I reached out for him. Tanya laughed as I gasped in pain, and the next voice I heard chilled my whole body instantly.

"Tanya, you haven't started without me, have you?" Aro asked, stepping into my line of sight. She giggled and slunk over to him, wrapping her body around him.

"Of course not, Master. Just getting rid of the vermin," she purred into his ear. He hummed and waved her over to my bed, obviously watching as she slowly removed the scraps of clothing she had on and laid down. I managed to get a glimpse of the other kits hiding under the bed before Aro picked me up by the front of my shirt and dropped me next to Tanya. He unceremoniously ripped my clothes from my body and smiled.

"Guess what we are doing tonight, my dear little Vixen? Celebrating our seven year anniversary," he said, not giving me a chance to respond. He pushed my hair back from my face and I turned away from his hand.

"I know Edward was waiting until you trusted him to take you, but I'm just not that patient," he said, like he was talking about the weather. I gasped at his words, Edward's face flashing before my eyes, but he didn't give me time to think about it. "The three of us are going to have much fun in the next few hours, my dear, and _you are going to be a willing participant_," he growled, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him as he gave me the order. My body completely relaxed in response, going completely against my will, and he smiled in response.

"Good girl." He removed his own clothes and told me to kneel. I started sitting up, but my chest exploded with pain again, the severity of the break keeping it from healing like it should. I really needed to lie still for it to even start, but that wasn't going to happen.

Tanya pulled me up and into position in one swift movement, blinding me for a moment with the sudden pain. I tried to catch my breath, but the pain was just too much. Every inhale ignited the pain again, and the two vampires around me didn't care.

Aro knelt behind me and grabbed my knees, letting his body rest on mine as he bent us both forward. His cool breath hit my back as he ran his tongue down my spine. I shivered in disgust, but he took it as arousal.

"Mmm . . . Are you enjoying yourself already, my dear? We haven't even begun and you are shaking like a whore," he said against the small of my back. He pressed his teeth against my skin, but was careful not to break it. It was one of the things he wanted Carlisle to research, how my blood and their venom would react for each party.

He lifted his face from me and grabbed my ass in one hand, beckoning to Tanya with the other. He grabbed something from behind me and his hand left to tie my wrists together behind my back. The blonde bitch laid down under me, her head between my knees and my face at her stomach. I wanted to use my legs to crush her skull, but I didn't even try. I couldn't if I wanted to.

I screamed as my body was ripped apart from the inside. Tears poured down my face as they attacked my body, forcing me to do things I never would have thought about while they enjoyed themselves. Aro shook and groaned in pleasure, raking his nails into my hip all the way to the bone. I cried out again, screaming to the ceiling. Aro tsked and they increased their pace, the feeling of my body coming apart at the seams from their force almost audible as I screamed. Aro finally stilled in his movements, his release causing his grip to increase to the point of snapping my pelvis. The crack and their laughter was the last thing I heard before I blacked out from pain, Edward's smiling face the last thing I saw before the darkness took over.


	15. Chapter 14 Meet the Parents

_Meet the Parents_

I ran from the castle as fast as I could, the wind whipping my hair and shirt as I dodged, swerved and jumped all the way to the German/Poland border. I was just a few miles from Berlin when I dropped to my knees. I had run for two straight hours without stopping, but I didn't feel any better for it. I couldn't get Vixen's face out of my mind, and as I kneeled on the damp ground, my hands in my lap and my head hanging in defeat, all I saw very the tears I couldn't remove from her face. It seemed like whatever I did, she always seemed to get hurt one way or another. It physically hurt me to see her in pain, to see her broken, and the pain in my chest only got worse the farther I ran.

I heard something rustling behind me and stood into a crouch, sniffing the air. I heard the wet beating of a heart, the pumping of the sweet blood in the animal's veins. I flashed through the brush and pounced on the animal, bringing my teeth to its neck, but I froze. No matter what I did, I couldn't get myself to finish. When I saw what kind of animal I was holding, I audibly gasped and released it, watching the little fox run away. I fell back onto my ass with a sigh, not bothering to soften my fall, and Alice came rushing up to me. Her mind was panicked, rushing through images so fast I couldn't tell what they were, but she wasn't actively blocking me. I looked up at her and fear was written all over her face.

"Alice, what is it?" I asked, jumping to my feet. Tears flooded her eyes as she looked at me, and I felt my heart constrict with my own fear. She wrapped her arms around my waist and smashed her face into my shirt, one image settling in her mind.

Vixen.

Bloody.

Broken.

"Alice . . ." I started, but she cut me off before I could continue.

"I'm so sorry, Edward! I looked before we left, and there was nothing! I only just saw this after you took off, and you were too far away for you to read me. I tried calling you, but your phone is off," she cried, pleading with me to understand.

She showed me her vision before I could even ask, and a snarl ripped through me as I watched. The last part of the vision was what disturbed me the most: Vixen begging for someone to end her life. She proceeded to drag her broken body to the window, tumbling out.

But she didn't die. She just laid there until Felix found her and hid her away. He used her and used her until her body was unrecognizable as anything even resembling a human. I snarled again, turning from Alice and swiping my nails across the trunk of a tree, watching as it slowly toppled to the ground.

"He wasn't supposed to touch her," I growled, my body ready to snap with tension. "I was supposed to take her away from them, but she'll never be able to trust us after this. I was going to save her from them, but I can't even save her there."

"Edward," Esme's voice said from behind me, "look at me." I didn't move, so she moved in front of me and took my face in her hands. Her eyes were soft, sympathetic, but the worry and fear were not buried that far down.

"We need to get back to her, Edward. She is going to need you now more than ever," she said, rubbing her thumb across my cheek. "And it's obvious you need her just as much." I started at her comment and scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"She's your mate, isn't she?" she asked, her tone soft and joyful. I only had to think about it for a second before I closed my eyes, sighed in defeat, and nodded once. She squealed and threw her arms around my neck, mumbling how happy she was that her first son had finally found his other. I didn't know how to respond, so I just returned her embrace and shook my head, resting my chin on top of her head.

"Sorry to break up the happy mood, but we need to get back to Vixen," Alice said, scanning the future once more. "She's not going to wake up for another day or more, but she's in bad shape." She blinked back to the present and looked at me. "What's your plan, Edward? Going up to Aro and demanding to know why he and Tanya raped Vixen isn't going to work. You'll blow your cover for whatever it is you're doing."

"You don't know what he's doing, Alice?" Carlisle asked, and she shook her head.

"I've decided to help her, but I'm making it up as I go along," I explained, and he nodded once. "I want to decide, to tell you what I want to do, but I'd run the risk of Aro touching any one of you and finding out. I don't know why he agreed in the first place, but I don't want to ruin the only chance I have to help her and the others escape."

"That's understandable, son," Carlisle said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We need to head back as quickly as possible. You do what you can with Aro, and we will see to Vixen as much as we can without you." I nodded in agreement, thinking of what I would say. I was only able to think of one word, but it wasn't going to help me at all . . .

_Bastard_ . . .

We ran back together as a group. It took a little longer than the first run, since I stayed with the group, but I couldn't have been more relieved when the _Hotel Dalla Inferno_ came into view. I sighed in relief until I heard a small whimper coming from the brush ahead. I slowed and sniffed as I approached, recognizing the scent immediately. I dropped to my knees in front of the bush and slowly reached under it, gently picking up the small bundle underneath.

"Caleb," I whispered, rubbing my thumb carefully over the top of his head. He twitched, trying to raise his head, but immediately stilled with a pained yip. I gave him a quick glance and immediately knew a few of his ribs had been broken. I looked to Carlisle for help, not sure what to do. We knew essentially nothing about shifters, and even less about shifter babies. I didn't know how long he had been injured, but it didn't look like he had even started healing.

"Give him to me, Edward," Esme said, kneeling in front of me. "We will do what we can for him until we find out more. For now, we have other things to take care of before we can go hunting for information." I nodded, gently handing him over.

_D-da-daddy_, he stuttered, and I laid my hand on his head, my heart contracting with the word.

"Hang on buddy. I'll be back real soon, okay? My family is going to take care of you until I get back. You'll be safe with them," I assured him, a half smile on my face. His mind was wary, and an image of Vixen entered his mind.

"We're going to help your mom, too," I said, the pain in my chest flaring for a moment at the thought of her. He closed his eyes, still unsure of my family, but his mind was quiet. I regretted not introducing them more, but it was too late for that. He would just have to trust them.

I gave Esme and the others one last glance before running for the front door, searching the bowels of the castle for Aro. I found him as I burst through the doors, stopping and focusing everything in me on his sick mind. He was heading toward the meeting room, reflecting on the satisfaction he received from his . . . _fun_ with Vixen and Tanya. I didn't know how just yet, but I was going to deal with her later . . .

"Aro," I said calmly, approaching him cautiously. My body was tense with the anger I was holding back, but I couldn't let him see it. I put my hands loosely into my pockets, refusing to let him touch me.

"Ah, Edward, what brings you back so soon? I thought you and the family were on a hunting trip for the rest of the night," he said, feigning innocence. I gave him a tight smile, letting him know I knew what he had done, and I wasn't exactly pleased.

"I think you know what brought me back, Aro. Alice had a vision of you and Tanya's little celebration with Vixen, and I wanted a little explanation as to why you would go back on our deal, and maybe what your fascination with her is" I said, still keeping my cool. My fingers twitched as I tried to keep them from curling into fists.

"My dear boy, I didn't go back on our deal. Tanya and I went to her; I didn't call on her like I normally would. Besides, I wasn't going to just let lucky number seven pass by without celebration. As to my fascination, well, you know me by now. I like to control things and won't deny my sadomasochistic nature. Edward, she cannot deny me anything I ask of her, and that is not something I will tire of quickly," he explained, talking to me like he would a slow child, given he didn't drain it first.

"So, are there any other occasions I should know about beforehand so this doesn't happen again?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. He chuckled, not worried at all.

"Oh, no, dear boy. I wouldn't want to ruin lucky number seven with a number eight. You do not need to worry about another unexpected visit from me. She is yours until you leave," he answered, and I nodded, thinking of an idea to cement his wavering trust. I could see him trying to hide his thoughts from me, but I could sense the suspicion in them.

"We will have to see if this speeds things along, huh?" I said, giving him a smirk. He chuckled and nodded.

"Yes. Yes, we will. For your sake, I hope it does. One year passes by quickly, young Cullen. Keep that in mind as you work through this plan of yours," he advised, and I feigned mulling it over.

"What would you say if I asked to bring her to visit her parents when she is well enough?" I asked, slowly moving my gaze to his. "I will play the good guy, bringing her to see them after _so_ long, and she will think you and the others to be the bad." He thought it over for a second before nodding his head once.

"Mmm, yes, that should definitely speed things along for you. Bring them food when you do, and it might help even more," he said, putting his hand on the door knob and pushing it open slightly.

"Good luck to you, dear boy. You may need it with this one." He started going inside, but paused, giving me a sickly smile. "Just so you know, you don't have to stop if she falls unconscious. She is just as obedient. I cannot fathom how, but her body still follows orders even after she has fallen out mentally." With that, he slipped inside and shut the door behind him.

I ran up to Vixen's room and burst through the door, flying to her bedside and falling to my knees for the third time that day. I pressed my forehead into the side of the mattress, trying to stop myself from dry heaving, when Esme's hand rested on the back of my head. I gave her a sickened, angry look, and she didn't ask what happened. I guessed that Alice told them, so she wasn't going to ask me to relive it again. I quickly got myself under control and looked at Vixen's broken form.

I could tell from where I was kneeling that her sternum was fractured, the area compressed lower than it should be normally. I could see scratches, gouges, and bruises all over her, but nothing as severe as the break in her chest.

Carlisle showed me what he was staring at on her other side, and my chest left me in one quick rush. He was staring directly at her pelvis, the sharp white a glaringly obvious example of the degree of torture she had just been put through. The flare of her hip was crushed into sharp fragments smaller than her pinky, the pieces just laying in the wound where Aro had dug his fingers in so deeply. He showed me what she looked like when they had first arrived. The skin of her back was red with her own blood, Aro's point of entry not discrete by any means. It looked like the two of them had clawed up every inch of her they could before they left her to the pain they had caused.

But, like Caleb, who was against her side, she wasn't healing.

"What's going on with them, Carlisle?" I whispered, surprised I was able to speak at all. He sighed softly, but I didn't take my eyes from them.

"I do not know enough about them to tell, Edward. If they were human, I would say Vixen has fallen into a coma from the seriousness of her injuries, but both of them should have at least started healing, no matter what else was happening. Nothing but a lack of energy to actually heal could keep the process from starting," he explained, almost like he was thinking out loud. "We need to find out more, maybe collect a blood sample from her to see what is going on." I just nodded, willing to do anything to find out more.

"Edward, did I hear her parents are here in the castle, too?" he asked, and I nodded again, finally turning to face him.

"They're in the dungeons, along with two other male shifters. I need to talk to them, get them to help," I said, and he nodded.

"I think it would be a good idea, and even better if you do it soon. I will take the blood samples while you are gone and see what I can find. Aro wanted me to look anyway," he explained, tacking on the last statement as a resigned afterthought. I stood and moved towards the door, pausing when Carlisle spoke up. He tossed me a bunch of paper bags, and I could tell from the scent that there was food in them. I gave him a questioning look and he pointed his thumb at Alice, who wiggled her fingers at me and pointed at her temple. I gave her a thankful smile and flashed through the castle and down into the dungeon.

I stopped at the door leading to the third floor of the dungeon, remembering Vixen's comment about her parents being three stories under the ground, and slowly turned the knob. I heard someone gasp and a soft _shhh_, along with shuffling, but their minds were blank of any real thoughts. Faces of the guard members passed through all four of their minds, but Demetri's stayed the longest, like they were hoping it was him. When I passed through the door, their minds wiped themselves clean in confusion. I could feel the suspicion even without Jasper around, but walked forward until I reached a cell with a man and a woman standing against the back wall, the man standing in front and effectively hiding the small woman behind him.

I kneeled slowly and slipped two of the bags between the bars, trying to toss them farther into the room. I did the same with the room next to theirs, where I could see two male figures curled up in the middle of the two beds against the left wall. They didn't seem to be moving, but I could see the shallow rise and fall of their chests. One of them stirred as the smell of whatever was in the bags spread through the room, but they didn't respond otherwise. I rooted deeper into their minds and found only pain, both physical and hunger, the bodily pain keeping them from getting to the food. I backed against the wall and sighed softly, sliding to the floor in front of the first door. I didn't know how to begin, but when Vixen's broken body and Caleb's still form flashed before my eyes, I inhaled deeply and jumped in.

"I need your help," I whispered, just loud enough for them to hear. They showed no visible response, so I continued. "I know this is the last thing you expected to hear from a vampire, and you most likely want to deny my request, but it really isn't me that needs your help," I babbled, the silence and the feeling of their intense stares making me uncomfortable. They still said nothing, so I said the only thing I could think of to get their attention.

"It's your daughter." Like I expected, that got their attention. The man tensed even more than he already was and took a step forward, turning his body sideways defensively.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with our daughter?" he asked tersely, mentally berating himself for speaking to me. I roughly ran a hand through my hair, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible.

"I managed to get her away from Aro and the others, but he came to her in her room while my family and I were hunting. We were giving her some time to herself after Demetri's murder, and he managed to evade both me and my sister's abilities. She's severely injured and she hasn't started healing," I explained, and the woman let out a soft gasp. The man shushed her, the name Renee passing through his thoughts and Charlie through hers.

"What do you mean, she hasn't started healing yet?" he asked, scowling.

"It's been a little more than two hours since she was injured, and she hasn't improved in the slightest. From what I've seen, her smaller injuries should have fully healed in that amount of time and they haven't," I answered, watching his body unconsciously start relaxing as he listened to me and watched my posture. He made me realize just how much their kind relied on body language when they communicate, and made a note to watch Vixen the next time we spoke. If we spoke again. Charlie sighed roughly and looked at Renee, who pleaded with him both with her eyes and her mind to help me—well, to help Vixen.

"Fine," he said, turning back to me with Renee clinging to his arm. "We will tell you what you need to know."

"I have a possibly better solution," I interjected. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but nodded for me to continue. "I will take you to her and you can tell us there, but only after I have made sure the two in the next room are alright." Renee burst into tears as soon as I mentioned bringing them to see Vixen, running around Charlie and flinging herself at the bars that made the door to their "room."

"Thank you . . ." she sobbed, slipping to the floor and leaning her forehead against the cool metal. I gave her a tight smile as I stood, walking to the hook behind the dungeon door and grabbing the set of keys.

I unlocked their door and then the second, picking up the bags of food and bringing them to the bedside table standing between the two beds. Charlie and Renee walked to either of the boys, looking them over without touching them, but the look on Renee's face made me focus on her mind. She was contemplating something, something she hadn't thought about until she saw the two of them, but the only thing I could get from her was a memory of three fox kits only a few days old.

She suddenly put her hand over the neck of one, his short brown hair leaving flesh exposed, and closed her eyes. Her hand wavered with the effort, and shadowy black lines appeared on his neck. Renee looked down at them as she caught herself on the side of the bed, a sob ripping from her chest as she looked down at the meaningless swirls. Charlie took in her reaction and did the same to the other, his reaction mirroring hers. I kept looking between the two of them, waiting for one of their minds to explain what they discovered, the images only of a particular set of swirls, one of which looked like a wolf's face and the other the side profile of a howling wolf. Renee suddenly whispered something to Charlie that only furthered my confusion.

"Charlie . . . it's our boys . . ."


	16. Chapter 15 The Swans

_The Swans_

_Huh? "Their boys?" What the hell is going on?_

I kept glancing between Charlie and Renee, who just smiled at each other and tended to the two men separately. They gently rolled each of them over onto their backs and put their hands over the males' chests. Charlie and Renee closed their eyes and a slight glow appeared around them as they concentrated, but I could get nothing from either of them. The boys flinched once after a few seconds, and their eyes flickered open tiredly. They looked like identical twins, from their dark brown hair to their six-foot stature. The only difference was their eyes, one's being an ice blue and the other's a rust orange.

"Joshua . . ." Charlie whispered to the rust-eyed one, who blinked in surprise. He looked to his brother and Renee, who was crying silently and repeating "Joseph . . . My little Joey . . ." Their minds were confused, unable to place Charlie and Renee in their memories. They were communicating with each other openly, trying to figure out how they knew their names, but they couldn't find anything more than a fuzzy memory of two wolves standing over them when they were extremely little.

_You don't think . . ._ one thought, their minds so similar I couldn't tell one from the other.

_Could it be them?_ the other responded, but neither was sure. Charlie and Renee seemed to figure out what was going on and walked to the foot of the beds.

They started shifting, their jaws elongating and their knees bowing forward, and in less than a minute, two timber wolves stood in front of us. Their lithe bodies were covered in black lines and swirls of various widths, something I had never seen on a wolf before, but Joseph and Joshua knew what they meant. They rolled onto their sides so they were facing each other and shifted, two more wolves joining the first. Each one seemed to have its own unique markings, and they focused on certain places of swirls on each other like an I.D. card. Renee had a dove-like bunch near her collarbone, and Charlie had some kind of shield just under his shoulder. The males had the wolf variants, which made me think even more that they had been born like human twins. They were from the same litter, which would be about the same, but the fact that they were so similar as humans threw me for a loop.

Renee was sobbing again as she shifted back and stood between Joseph and Joshua, just looking from one to the other, not sure what to do. She had her sons back, and that's all she could think about. They were just as emotional inside, even though they were trying to hide it. Charlie walked up behind Renee and put a hand on her shoulder, looking at the two found members of their family. It was truly touching, but there was something missing.

"I hate to break up the moment," I whispered, all of them looking at me. "Btu someone is missing from this reunion. If the two of you can make it, we need to go help your sister." Their eyes widened and thy nodded once, determination flooding through them as an image of their little wolf pup sister flashed in their minds.

"Before you start moving around, what is it that hurts?" I asked, putting my hand out in a gesture to wait.

"Everything," Joshua said, shifting back into human form and his rust eyes telling me who he was.

"The guard just tried to get us to pledge our obedience to the Volturi. When we refused-" Joseph started.

"They decided to fight us," Joshua finished. "Needless to say, eight of them against the two of us didn't work out all that fairly."

"Nothing permanent, just a lot of aches and pains that just add up to-"

"One _big ass_ pain." I looked at Charlie and Renee, who looked back at me. I looked at the boys, and back to their parents. They just shrugged, and I nodded.

"Fine, but if you need help, please tell me you'll ask," I said, and they nodded. I turned to Charlie and Renee, who were looking at me funny but quickly wiped their face of emotion when I turned. I raised a questioning eyebrow, but let it go.  
>"If we encounter someone along the way, please play along with whatever I say. It's the only way to get you up there, no matter how degrading or disgusting what I say is. I need to follow their expectations of me, but I want you to know that nothing of what I say is true. Also, if you need to contact me on the way up, just think it. I can read your minds, but I won't be able to react in any way," I explained, and their jaws dropped. "I can't explain it now. There will be time for that later," I said before they had the chance to respond.<p>

"Let's go," I said softly. Joseph and Joshua rolled their aching bodies off the beds and onto their feet. They swayed for a moment, but used each other to steady themselves. I waited for them to give me a signal before I led them up, and they both nodded to me. I put my finger over my mouth to indicate silence, swirled my finger in a circle next to my head, and pointed to my ear. Everyone could hear a conversation between the five of us, and I wanted them to know it. They kept their faces serious and nodded once, all at the same time.

We made it upstairs without any problems, but when we reached our floor, Carlisle walked out of Vixen's room as we approached. His face was taught with worry, and his mind wasn't hiding the sight waiting for us.

"Son, before you go in there, I want to prepare all of you for what you are about to see." He paused and waited a second before continuing. "Your daughter's injuries are very severe, and the trauma, both mental and physical, has taken her from her right frame of mind. She doesn't recognize anyone in there but Caleb, and his lack of response to her has not helped bring her back to the present. I couldn't even guess where her mind is, but she is extremely confused. She is in immense pain, but she keeps trying to move," he explained, and my heart contracted. My hand flinched as it tried to make a fist in anger, but I kept it still. Carlisle looked at each of us in turn before opening the door and letting us past. He kept his eyes on me as I walked by, but my gaze was already trained on the now empty bed.

"Where is she?" I asked the room, not caring who answered.

"She shifted and got herself under the bed. We tried to stop her, but she started convulsing and whining in pain whenever we went near her," Emmett answered. "I tried to calm her down and keep her on the bed, but she kept flinching like I was going to hurt her. She let herself fall to the floor after she shifted and dragged herself under there." He pointed to the bed and I got down on the floor.

She was spread flat on the floor against the wall, the four fox kits nursing while she slipped in and out of consciousness. Her exposed pelvic bone glared at me, the fractures and cracks like laughing mouths as they opened and closed with her breaths. The rest of her body looked so skinny, even more fragile than it had before with the babies feeding from her.

"We haven't been introduced," Carlisle's voice said from behind me. "I am Carlisle, Edward's father. Well, for all intents and purposes." He proceeded to introduce the rest of the family as I attempted to coax Vixen out from under the bed. The kits ran over to me, but she didn't move.

"Edward, I put a big comforter on the floor in the corner. Why don't you put them there for now?" Alice said as she kneeled down next to me. I nodded and scooped the four furry bodies up, carrying them over to Vixen's comforter. I set them down and they immediately settled into a deep sleep.

"Why do you have those babies in here?" Renee asked quietly, a look of awe on her face when I turned to her.

"I found them with their dead mother while I was hunting. I asked Vixen if she wanted to take care of them, and she agreed. She's had them for a little over two weeks now," I responded, crawling back to my original position half under the bed.

"What about this one on the bed?" Charlie asked.

"That's Caleb. He's a shifter. Neither one of us knows how he managed to get in the same litter as the others, but we assume his parents were in trouble and thought he would be safe with a regular fox family instead of another shifter," I explained. Carlisle took over the questioning as I murmured softly to Vixen, trying to get her to respond.

"Vixen . . . Vixen, please wake up . . . Vixen, it's Edward . . . No one's going to hurt you now . . . Please come here . . ." I whispered repeatedly. She twitched when I said her name and mine, but that was the only reaction. I crawled closer to her and she whined.

_Just let me die . . . Just let me die . . ._

"I'm here, Vix, and I brought some people to see you," I continued, my heart plummeting. "They've missed your visits, and they want to help you get better. You haven't seen two of them for a very long time, and they are anxious to see their little sister again. Her body tensed and she whined, trying to push herself towards me.

"There you go, Vix. Don't give up yet. You're mom and dad wouldn't approve of that, now would they?" I asked her, and she tried harder to come to me. Her whines got louder with her efforts, and I could hear the pain in them as she moved. When her face brushed my outstretched hand and she didn't move away, I put my hand under her head and the other gently under her hips.

"Emmett, pull me out," I said softly, knowing he would hear me. I felt him grab my ankles and slowly pull me out. I kept Vixen off the floor and level so nothing moved and caused her more pain, and when we finally emerged from under the bed, Emmett let go. I stood slowly, trying not to jostle her too much, and laid her next to the still form of Caleb. The rise and fall of his chest was the only movement he made, but it was enough for me. Vixen didn't respond to his presence, but I could feel from Jasper that she had slipped into unconsciousness again.

"She just knocked out, so whatever it is you are going to do, I would do it now, especially if it is going to hurt her," I said, stepping back and crossing my arms over my chest.

I could still hear her mumbling, projecting the words _let me die, let me die_. I didn't know why she still wanted to die, especially when I told her that her parents and long lost brothers were here, but I had no idea what was going on in her mind, never mind what time her mind thought it was. I felt cold every time I heard those words come from her, and a pain flared in my chest right over my heart. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't care at that point. I didn't want her to die; I wanted her to live the life she had been before she was captured. She should be living happy and free with her family, not stuck being the servant of vampires who constantly torture her.

I was brought back to the events in the room when a glow hit my eyes. Charlie, Renee, Joshua, and Joseph were standing on either side of the bed, holding hands in a circle with the morning sun falling on them through the window. The glow was coming from the four of them, and it slowly moved to Vixen in streams of light from their chests to hers. It was over as fast as it started, and Esme shot forward to catch Renee as I caught Joshua. Joseph held himself up by the post of the canopy above the bed, and Charlie grabbed Carlisle's outstretched arm. The sunlight faded away from where they just were, leaving only the light of the coming dawn. Alice popped up next to me with two trays of food, and we set the four of them on the edge of the bed. As they ate, I watched Vixen.

Her shallow breaths deepened, and her tension seemed to seep out of her. The deep gouges in her back slowly started knitting themselves together, and the splinters of bone in her hip shifted back into place, fusing together to remake the flare of her pelvis. I still heard those dreadful words every now and then, and I could tell from her parents and brothers' thoughts that they did too. She didn't want to go through that pain anymore. She had given up, and I couldn't blame her for it.

I sighed softly and sat at her desk, my eyes on her guitar. I could feel my fingers tingling with a song, one I hadn't heard in a while, but a wave of guilt hit me when the words played through my mind. I listened to the mournful tone, and it couldn't have fit our situation any more.

"What's wrong with him?" Charlie asked coolly, his mind showing him looking at me.

"He feels guilty about what happened," Jasper answered. I didn't respond.

"Why would he feel guilty? Why would he care about what happens to her? You're all vampires, so why would it matter to _any_ of you?" he asked, his voice growing colder with every word. A flash of indignation passed through Carlisle's mind, but he quickly squashed it.

"We are not like the others here, sir. We value human life, and none of us like to see someone hurt because of someone else like your daughter was. Whether you believe that or not does not matter to us because it is who we are," he answered, just as coolly. Charlie scoffed.

"So what? You value human life because, without it, you wouldn't survive. How noble of you. Got a better excuse?" Charlie spat. I heard Emmett's mind and stood up abruptly, startling everyone.

"I am your daughter's new master, at least while we are here. I am saving her from whatever Aro or the guard members would have done, but Aro took us all by surprise with this. Why do I care so much? Because Aro is an arrogant asshole that likes to collect people like objects and use them to make himself stronger, and no one deserves to be forced to obey his every command. Why am I guilty? Because I promised her that I would protect her, that I wouldn't let anything happen to her, and it did anyway. I broke my promise, and that's not something I take lightly." I looked Charlie in the eye and dared him to question me. He held my gaze for a few seconds, but he said nothing. Renee surprised me by running over and flinging her arms around me, trapping my own arms to my sides.

"Thank you . . . Thank you for saving my little girl," she sobbed into my shirt. I made no move to return her embrace, Jasper passing Charlie's fear to me.

"I can't accept your thanks, miss. I didn't save her. She still got hurt even though Aro gave me _possession_ of her," I sneered, the phrase making my skin crawl. She viciously shook her head.

"No, you did . . . You got her away from that monster . . ." she cried, and I just sighed. She eventually let me go and shakily walked back to Charlie, who kept his eyes on me. I held his gaze, waiting for him to say what he was currently thinking, but he didn't. Instead, he took a few steps forward and reached his hand out to me. I looked down at it and back to his face with a questioning look.

"We haven't . . . been formally introduced . . ." Charlie started hesitantly. "I'm Charlie Swan." I stared for a second, trying to find some ulterior motive, but slowly took his hand when I found none.

"Edward . . . Edward Cullen," I responded, and he gave me a tight smile. We let go and he looked at me anxiously, fiddling with his hands.

"I . . . Thank you . . . for caring enough to try . . . to try to save her," he stuttered, unable to meet my gaze.

"You are welcome, Mr. Swan, but as I told your wife, I have not really been all that successful." He shook his head.

"The effort was enough, boy. I can tell you were sincere in it, even though it didn't work out the way you wanted," he said, roughly shoving his hands into his pockets. I just nodded once, looking over at Vixen. The smallest of her wounds had almost vanished, but the more severe were still trying to knit themselves back together again.

"We can harness the power of nature and use it to heal ourselves," Charlie said, following my gaze. "We can't control nature, but we can ask for her help. If she gives it, then our bodies are able to use the energy however we need it. If not, then we are on our own. This time, she decided to help, and I can't thank her enough for it."

"So that light really wasn't supposed to be there," I thought aloud. Something had seemed strange about it, but I had no explanation until now.

"No," Charlie responded. "When we made our circle, we asked for Mother Nature to help her child heal, and she did. She gave us the light of the sun." I nodded once, slowly, and another question came to mind.

"Mr. Swan—" I started, but Charlie cut me off.

"It's Charlie, boy. None of that 'Mister' stuff," he said gruffly. "Only the trouble kids back home call me that." I nodded once.

"Charlie," I started again, "how do you know I am sincere? How do you know I'm not just saying what I think will gain your trust?" Charlie huffed.

"I'm a living, breathing lie detector, boy. I can feel a change in heart beat, blood oxygen level, and your rate of respiration. Of course, two of those don't really apply to you, but there's one other thing that helps." He paused, keeping my attention. He gave me a small grin and pointed to his eyes.

"I can see it, boy. Your eyes told all," he explained. I was shocked. Carlisle clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"We are going to leave you alone. The smaller the crowd when Vixen wakes the better. She knows all of you best," he said as the others moved towards the door. I nodded again, feeling like a bobble head. They left the room and I sat at the desk again, gently picking up her guitar and setting it on my lap. I gently strummed the strings, a soft thrumming spreading through the room.

"You play?" Renee asked, sitting at the foot of the bed. I nodded once.

"I've lived my whole life as a vampire by myself, so I found things to entertain me while my family members were off with each other. I've had a lot of time to perfect my playing," I explained, fingering the notes to the sing I had been thinking about earlier. I hadn't heard Three Days Grace in quite some time, but their songs really fit my mood.

"How long have you been like this, Edward?" Joshua asked. I chuckled.

"Over a hundred years." Both boys blanched.

"You weren't kidding when you said you've had a lot of time . . ." Joseph commented, and I chuckled again.

"Why have you been alone all that time?" Renee asked, leaning towards me.

"I have yet to find my mate, Mrs. Swan. I don't know why, but I can't just force it. When I find her, it will be instantaneous and forever, but it has yet to happen," I explained, making my way towards the chorus at the end of the song and singing the words in my head:

_Even if I say  
>It'll be alright<br>Still I hear you say  
>You want to end your life<em>

"There's another reason why you care about our daughter so much, isn't there?" Charlie asked, sitting next to his wife._  
>Now and again we try<br>To just stay alive  
>Maybe we'll turn it all around<br>'Cause it's not too late  
>It's never too late<br>_"I don't know," I answered after a few seconds. "I know that I felt something strange when I first saw her, and that feeling hasn't gone away since. It's withdrawn into my subconscious, but every time I look, it's still there. I don't know what it is. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to keep her safe."

_Maybe we'll turn it all around  
>'Cause it's not too late<br>It's never too late (It's never too late)_

"Her name is Isabella. Isabella Marie Swan," Charlie mumbled to me, and I could feel his eyes boring into my head as he watched me. I closed mine as I played the last few, sorrowful notes._  
>It's not too late<br>It's never too late . . . Isabella . . ._


	17. Chapter 16 Reunion

_Reunion_

I woke to the soft strumming of a guitar and soft murmurs of conversation. I couldn't remember anything after I blacked out, and I had a feeling I didn't want to. Flashes of conversation passed through my mind from that time, mentions of my parents and brothers making me think nothing good had been said. The words echoing around in my head were muffled, like I was hearing them through muffs. I had no idea who they were coming from, and my heart dropped when Aro and Tanya appeared in my head. A brief hope that Edward had come back quickly died. I couldn't be that lucky.

I sighed and the murmurs stopped. The bed next to me slumped with someone's weight, and a light touch brushed my hair from my face. A single voice murmured to me, but I couldn't tell what was being said. It didn't sound male, or high pitched, and my heart slowed slightly. The words slowly became clearer, and when I recognized the voice, my eyes shot open.

My mother's face stared down at me, her eyes tearing up and a sad smile fighting to break free. Her hair fell to the side, blocking my view of anyone else in the room, but I could still hear someone playing the guitar softly. It didn't feel like I was in the dungeons, so I assumed we were still in my room. That brought up the question of how she got up here, but there was something else I had to deal with first. I could feel Caleb's furry body next to me and licked his head. My mom giggled and shook her head.

"He's a beautiful little boy, Bella," she murmured, and I froze. I hadn't heard that name in a long time . . . Memories of my childhood raced through my mind, times I wished I could go back to but knew I couldn't. She saw me lose focus and giggled again. "He needs your attention for a moment, baby."

I looked down at him and rested my head over his. I focused on the small stream of energy I could feel flowing through my body and tapped into it, redirecting the glow to the contact between our heads. It was a little worrying to see so little in me, but I had been healing a lot in a short amount of time. It was normal, but I'd feel much better later when my energy had the chance to refill.

Caleb quickly absorbed what I was able to give him, his little broken ribs healing quickly. He was too little to be able to heal on his own like a normal shifter would, so he really needed his mom, or me, to give him the energy he needed. In a week or two he would be old enough, but not just yet. I felt him go from being unconscious to asleep and closed the door I opened to transfer my energy with a strained sigh.

"Good job, baby," my mom whispered, lightly petting my face. I smashed my face into her palm and whined loudly.

_Mom . . . _I whispered from my mind. _I'm so tired . . . I don't . . . I don't want to do this anymore . . ._ Her breath hitched and she kissed my forehead. I heard other gasps of surprise and a soft groan, but they were all out of my line of sight. She shook her head.

"Don't give up just yet, Bella. We'll get out of here somehow." She gave me a small smile. "All five of us." My eyes narrowed in confusion.

_What do you mean, all five of us?_ I asked suspiciously. My mom stood up, revealing three figures standing on the far side of the room behind her. My father was there, as were two men about my age. As I looked at them, they let their tattoos appear and I whined again.

_Josh . . . Joey . . ._ I cried, tears leaking from my burning eyes. They looked so different, but I knew exactly who they were. I would never forget the brothers I had lost so quickly.

"Hey, baby sister," Joshua said, his rust-colored eyes the same color I remembered. He and Joseph came over and sat so I could see both of them.

"Mom and dad told us everything that's happened since we disappeared," Joey said, sitting Indian style next to my head.

_What . . . What happened_? I asked, feeling the effects of my energy transfer making me tired again.

"You've been unconscious for the past three days, Bella. Don't you think you should rest before we talk?" dad asked from his position next to mom. I tried to shake my head, but I couldn't lift it enough to do so.

_I have to know, dad . . ._ He nodded to me and once to the boys, giving them permission to answer.

"A couple of vamps came to the den while mom and dad were away," Joey explained, his face grave. He was always the more serious of the two of them, even as a pup. It was relieving to see that hadn't changed. "They had been watching us for some time, trying to figure out how long they would have between when our parents left and when they returned. They showed up that day planning to take all three of us, but mom and dad didn't go as far away as they usually did. So, they took the two of us and ran, leaving you behind."

"They said something about trading us to the Volturi in exchange for a pardon of some kind, but back then we had no idea what they were talking about," Josh continued, trying to play it off as nothing. He had seen the growing anger and sadness in my eyes, and, being the big brother he was, tried to quell it. "We managed to escape that night while they were trying to figure out their next move. We constantly ran into any tunnel we could and ran the opposite direction when they ran past us in their fury. We had to survive on instinct after that, which wasn't pleasant most of the time, but we made it." He paused for a moment, putting a finger to his chin. "Come to think of it, they weren't all that smart for vampires. No offense," he said, turning to whoever was behind me. Someone chuckled and my stomach flipped . . . pleasantly . . .

"None taken. They must have been fairly new to not be able to track a couple of children," the voice answered, and I immediately knew it was Edward. I lifted my head enough to prop my chin on my shoulder so I could see him.

He was sitting at my desk, sitting sideways to the bed, with my guitar in his lap. The other pups had settled on and around his feet, sleeping soundly to the soft notes rising from the instrument. His gold eyes were dark with hunger, but his posture told me he was rooted to that spot. There was a glowing self-hatred in his eyes, creating a red spark that I wanted to get rid of immediately. His hair was more mussed than usual, probably from running his hands through it. He looked more human at that moment than any other time I had seen him, but he refused to look at me.

"I think they were, but that was such a long time ago," Joey said, bringing me back to the conversation at hand. "I don't even know what happened to them after we escaped, but I really don't care. It sounded like they were going to be killed if they didn't do something to save their own asses, so I can only assume that's what happened." Edward nodded, but he still didn't look away from the floor. Caleb started moving and crawled over me, flipping onto his back as he slid down. He curled up next to Joey and fell right back to sleep, never regaining consciousness the whole time. I had watched him as he moved, raising my eyebrow at his ability to sleep . . . crawl, or whatever it was he just did. Joey huffed.

"Huh . . . cute," he said, petting Caleb's tiny head with one of his huge fingers. I mentally smiled, and Renee gently placed her hand on me.

"Why don't we get you dressed while the boys watch your baby?" she asked, and I nodded once. "Do you want to shower first?" I nodded again and stiffly lifted myself onto my feet. I teetered for a moment, but steadied quickly. I carefully jumped from the bed, cutting off a yelp as I landed. I saw Edward flinch at the sound from the corner of my eye, but he didn't turn to me; he just closed his eyes tightly and kept playing. The kits woke and looked at me, but I quickly reassured them and they went back to sleep.

I slowly followed Renee to the bathroom door, and she closed it behind us. I got right in the shower and shifted, already knowing I had no clothes to take off. My mother gasped when she saw, her mind coming to the obvious conclusion. I gave her a small smile as I stood under the steaming water, letting it pound against my aching body.

"Are you okay in here by yourself for a minute? I need to get you a change of clothes," she asked as I grabbed the shampoo bottle. I nodded as I squeezed some of the soap into my hand, and she hurried out.

She shut the door behind her and I continued with my shower, taking my time and relishing in the feel of the water against my skin. I relished in the comforting sound of rushing water until I heard murmurs through the door, one male and one female. A flash of Aro and Tanya passed through my mind, and my heart skipped a beat. I kept rinsing the suds from my head, but then I heard the echoing sound of the bathroom door closing when Renee left, followed by a locking _click_ that I knew didn't happen. My breaths started coming faster and faster as pieces of that night assaulted my mind. The sounds, the smells, the pain . . .

I pressed my back to the wall of the shower and grasped the sides of my head roughly in my hands. The flashes came faster and faster, blocking the present from my sight. I faintly heard the door open as I gasped for breath, hearing and feeling everything all at once over and over again. Someone helped me to the floor and wrapped their arms around my shaking form, but I couldn't focus on their face. Their arms were cold around me, the voice murmuring in my ear male. I let go of my head and grabbed his soaked shirt, the fabric ripping in my grip.

"Bella, calm down . . . They're not here, Bella . . . Listen to me, Bella . . . Come back to me," he murmured, his soft velvet voice slowly pushing the images back. He kept talking softly as someone turned off the water, and I pressed my face into the side of his neck.

"Don't let them control you even when they aren't here, Bella. Don't give them that power," he continued, and his words hit hard. I gasped and my body froze tightly to his. He was right. I couldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing they could control me even if there weren't around.

I took deep, shaky breaths as I clung to Edward, my nails digging into his chest. He didn't make any protest, but I could feel it. Edward didn't release his grip on me as I continued trying to calm myself, and started humming a slow, soft melody in my ear. I focused on the sound, the song escaping me at that point but the vibrations soothing. My muscles slowly relaxed as he continued to hum, and I suddenly remembered the words:

_Cause when push comes to shove  
>You taste what you're made of<br>You might bend, till you break  
>Cause it's all you can take<br>On your knees you look up  
>Decide you've had enough<br>You get mad you get strong  
>Wipe your hands shake it off<br>Then you stand_.

It was by Rascal Flatts, that much I knew. I started humming with him, and when we reached the end of the song, he leaned back to look at my face. I didn't let him, though, tightening my grip and whining. He shushed me, rubbing a hand soothingly up and down my back.

"I'm not going anywhere, Bella. Just let me see you," he murmured, and I relaxed my fingers. He leaned back again and I moved my face from his neck hesitantly, tears still falling down my cheeks every now and then. He gently brushed them away and gave me a tight smile.

"Let's get you out of here and into some clothes, shall we?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"N-no . . ." I stumbled, my chest still heaving. "I need . . . to be able . . . to finish a freaking shower . . . without having . . . a breakdown." He nodded and went to take his arms from around me, but I clung to him.

"I need you here . . . Just be here in case . . ." I whispered.

"Are you sure? Your mother is right—" he started, but I cut him off with a shake of my head.

"No . . . you . . . I need _you_ here . . ." I whispered forcefully, and he reluctantly nodded.

"If you're sure . . ." he said, and I nodded once. He helped me stand, wrapping his arm around my waist, and turned the water on until it was steaming again. I hadn't noticed until I felt the warmth of the water, but Edward's contact had me starting to shiver. He loosened his grip on my waist and closed his eyes, giving me privacy but still being there for me if I needed him.

I could feel my skin brush against his hands as I moved, keeping me anchored to the present. As I continued through my shower routine, I couldn't help but wonder why I needed Edward. He was right to question my choice of him over my mother, especially with him being a vampire, but I had no excuse. I was sure my father wasn't too pleased about me being in a shower with a guy while he was in the next room, but I knew for certain I would have broken down again if Edward left. That feeling that had been coming in and out of hiding since we met seemed to be purring in my chest now that he was next to me, but I had no idea what it was. I couldn't even attempt to describe it, but it felt . . . good. Peaceful. At home with him nearby.

I looked at him as I rinsed the conditioner from my hair. He still had his eyes closed, but his hair was soaked and hanging in his face. The front of his shirt was in shreds from my fingers, and the deep crescent moons my nails had made were starting to close as I watched. I looked back up at him, his face serene, and placed my fingers gently over the healing marks. He started at the unexpected contact, but kept his eyes closed. I caressed the deepest with the pad of my thumb, and he sighed softly.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," I whispered, watching the small wounds slowly heal themselves. I pressed my other hand to his chest, doing the same to the cuts on that side. He huffed.

"It's nothing compared to what happened to you. You have nothing to apologize for," he responded.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my thumbs stopping their ministrations.

"I didn't protect you. It's the least I deserve." It was my turn to huff.

"Edward, that's ridiculous. This is Aro we're talking about. He planned everything just so you wouldn't be able to get back to me in time. He knew what he was doing, Edward. Please don't blame yourself for his sick, cruel mind," I pleaded, but he stayed silent. "I don't want you to blame yourself for this, Edward. Please, if you can't do it for yourself, can you do it for me?" I put a hand to the side of his face and raised it so he was looking at my face instead of the shower floor. He cautiously opened his eyes, eyes black with hunger and—hopefully—diminished self-hatred, and nodded. I watched his eyes for a moment, looking for any hint that he wasn't being truthful, but when I didn't see any, I nodded in return. I kissed his cheek, and a jolt struck my body. I gasped and so did Edward, the two of us looking at the other for an explanation but having none. Neither of us knew what to say, so Edward closed his eyes again. I saw someone leave the room in a hurry, the small frame telling me it was my mother. I smiled and shook my head, imagining my dad telling her to check on us.

I quickly finished showering without any more problems and shut the water off. Edward went to step out, but I grabbed his hand. I wasn't ready to break contact yet; that warm, fuzzy feeling was still purring in my body, and I could feel the remnants of the shock from kissing his cheek. I could see a word forming in my mind, a word to describe this feeling, but I couldn't make it out just yet. He flinched at the contact again, a little jolt not unlike the previous one travelling between us, but didn't pull away.  
>We stepped out of the shower and he grabbed the towel my mom must have left on the counter, turning around with his eyes closed. I wrapped it around myself and he finally opened his eyes, giving me a small half smile. My heart did a little half-beat at the sight, and I mentally scolded myself for reacting like that. It was too soon to start swooning, especially when I had no idea what my feeling was.<p>

"Renee, can you or one of the men go into my room across the hall and grab and shirt and sweats for Bella? They'll be a little more comfortable than what she has," Edward said, keeping me behind the door and standing in the crack.

"Sure, give me a minute and I'll bring you both back something," she said, and I heard my dad grunt in obvious disapproval. I laughed and shook my head.

"Calm down, dad," I said, trying not to laugh. He grunted again, and I pictured him standing with his arms crossed, grumbling to himself. I stretched our arms and put my ear to the crack between the door and the wall, hearing just that. I walked back to Edward and rested my forehead against his bicep, laughing silently to myself. Edward just looked down at me in surprise before giving me that deadly smile and shaking his head.

Bella got dressed, finally allowing herself to let go of me and let her mother help her, and I took the fresh clothes into her closet. I changed quickly and stepped out to find the five of them sitting on Bella's bed, reminiscing about before their capture and catching each other up on their lives. I couldn't help but watch Bella's face as she laughed, one of the only times I had seen her genuinely happy.

Bella, Bella, Bella. I couldn't stop saying her name, now that I knew it. Even while I was trying to comfort her in the shower, any time I wasn't saying her name, I was thinking it. When she touched the marks from her nails on my chest, when she kissed my cheek, when she grabbed my hand . . . Her name and face had full reign over my mind. The jolt whenever she touched me only tightened the control.

I went into the bathroom and grabbed another towel, vigorously rubbing my soaked hair with it. I tried to tame it in the mirror, but it was a lost cause. I didn't know why I bothered trying anymore. The towel landed in the hamper and I sat on the floor next to where Bella was sitting. I reached for her guitar, but turned and looked up at her before my hand touched it.

"Do you mind?" I asked, gesturing to the instrument. "I wasn't able to ask before, but it doesn't feel right helping myself now that I can." She giggled and shook her head at me.

"That guitar deserves to be played. I haven't touched it in such a long time . . ." she said, shaking her head.

I grabbed the instrument by the neck and settled it in my lap, leaning back against the mattress. I started strumming random notes, letting the surprising and unexpected euphoria I was feeling escape into my fingers and out in sound. I kept it quiet, since Bella and her family were still talking, and her fingers suddenly found my damp hair. I applauded myself for keeping the notes steady, but my stomach flipped with the jolt the contact created. She kept running her hands through it, playing with strands, and I kept playing a soft, happy melody.

The constant stream of energy running between us with even the slightest touch baffled me, but it brought something to my attention, something I never thought I would find. Something had changed in me in the three weeks we had been in Italy, and now that I knew what I was going to find, I couldn't have been happier that I came.

As I focused on Bella's hand on my head, I knew I couldn't admit what I had found out. She deserved to be with her family, away from the kinds of people who had tormented her for years. I couldn't act on what I realized, or she would lose that opportunity. Sure, she wouldn't lose her family like a human would, but they don't have to move around as much as we do. Besides, why would she want anything to do with a vampire after the past seven years she's had? I couldn't do it, no matter how long I've waited to find her. For now, though, I would take advantage of the happiness I was feeling and use it to get through what I had to to make sure she was able to live the life she was destined for. A life with someone of her own kind, not mine . . .

Huh . . . happy . . . in Volterra . . .

Who would have thought?


	18. Chapter 17 Go

_Go_

A week after the attack, I was finally able to be in a room by myself without being assaulted by memories of that night. Edward would sit outside the door doing I don't know what, and I would feed my growing children. They were about six and a half weeks old now, and Caleb was almost fully grown. At eight weeks, he would finally be able to learn how to shift. For now, I was able to shift his form through our bond. I didn't want to confuse him, though, so I left him in his fox form.

I started looking for any vixens in the area that had kits around the same age to take the foxes, since I wouldn't be able to stay with them their whole lives, nor did I want them growing up in the castle with beings that could kill them without any effort just for the fun of it, and found one around the lake I had visited weeks before when Edward and his family arrived. I brought one to meet her the next day, and she took to her well. It depressed me and temporarily confused the baby, but she eventually understood what was happening. I planned on taking the others over the next few days, or asking Edward to help, but I didn't want him to scare her off. Caleb was sad that he would be losing his playmates, but Edward brought my family up for visits every other day. My brothers played with him until he collapsed from exhaustion, but he enjoyed every minute.

Carlisle found out the results of the tests Aro wanted performed on my blood, and there was no permanent or adverse reaction between the vampire venom and my blood. Half of the cells temporarily changed into something like those in the venom, but it was for a very short amount of time. For the vampire cells, it was the same; they changed into something similar to my blood cells. He assumed that a vampire ingesting the blood of a shifter would temporarily be able to shift, but there was no way to find anything out for sure unless a vampire actually did it. His findings held no interest to me, but Aro had apparently been adamant about Carlisle finding anything out.

I was just coming back from parting with the last of the fox kits when I heard a squeal from my bedroom window. I ran and jumped onto the sill to find Caleb's stomach being assaulted by Emmett's fingers. Caleb was lying on his back in the middle of the bed with the rest of the boys around him, his little feet kicking as he tried to get away. They didn't notice me right away, so I crawled up behind where Emmett was on the bed and jumped to his shoulder, shifting into a python and wrapping my body around his neck. He screamed in shock and fell backwards to the floor as I let go and shifted into a finch, catching myself in the air and landing on Edward's knee. I shifted back into a fox and looked at Edward, who was bent over with laughter. Jasper, Carlisle, Joseph, Josh, and Charlie weren't much better, and Emmett was glaring at me from the floor.

"Not cool, Bella," he grunted, which just made everyone laugh harder. I stuck my fox tongue out at him and he dove at me, but I dodged and his face landed in Edward's lap. Both boys screamed and scrambled away from each other.

"No, not cool at all, Bella," Jasper gasped, laughing impossibly harder. "That was priceless!" I jumped on Emmett's back and onto the bed, sitting next to a laughing Caleb. I gave Jasper a smug look and he started laughing all over again. Edward sat up and grabbed me around my stomach, lifting me into his lap again so I was facing him. He shook his head and couldn't keep the smile from his face. I felt that jolt of electricity surge through me again at his touch, and the flash I saw go through his eyes at the same time gave me a hint that he did too.

"That was good, Bella," he said his voice breathy. "No one has gotten Emmett like that in a while." I gave him as much of a smile as I could before Emmett snatched me from his grasp, making me yelp in surprise.

"You're going to pay for that," he whispered menacingly, and I gulped audibly. He quickly laid me down and attacked my sides, making me squeal indignantly. I tried to get away, but it was no use. He kept going for a good minute before Edward finally saved me. He set me in his lap as I tried to catch my breath, and I rested my chin on his knee so I could glare at Emmett. He looked at me with a _what did I do_ look on his face and I rolled my eyes.

"You can't say you didn't deserve it, Bella," Edward said from behind me, I thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

_I can say it, but it wouldn't be true_, I responded, and he chuckled. The door suddenly swung open and Alice came barging in, grabbing me up from Edward's lap and wrapping her arms around my chest, letting the rest of me dangle from her arms. I felt like one of those unlucky cats the little kid manages to get their hands on and picks up.

"Come on, Bella. We're having a girl bonding day," she said loudly.

"Oh! Let me set up the cameras before you get started!" Emmett yelled, scrambling from his seat. Rosalie appeared next to him and smacked him in the back of the head.

"You pervert, you know we're just hanging out together!" she yelled, and the rest of the boys tried to keep in their laughter.

"Not as good, but I'll take it!" Emmett responded, resulting in another crack across his head. He flinched and rubbed it.

"Ouch, Rosie! You know I was just kidding!"

"Oh, were you?" she asked, and he just sat back down and looked at the floor. She tsked and crossed her arms over her chest, walking over to where Alice and I were standing. Or hanging.

"Take care of that baby, boys. We'll return his momma later," Alice said, making a face at Caleb, who tilted his head in response. I wriggled in her arms and she reluctantly let go, saying something about not trying to get out of spending the day with them as I jumped back on the bed. Caleb walked over and sat down in front of me, and I touched my nose to his.

_You be good for the boys, okay?_ I told him, and he nodded once. I touched his nose again and licked his face, making him squeal and jump into Edward's lap. He looked up over Edward's thigh at me with just his eyes visible.

_No, momma! No lick me! Protect me, daddy!_ he yelled, looking up at Edward for a second before turning back to me. _Don't let mommy give me a bath!_

"Why can't I get a bath with a sexy woman's tongue?" Emmett whined, and Rose cracked him again. She didn't bother to answer, with made me curious for all of about a second before I shot the thoughts down.

"Let's go, Bella! We've got a lot to do, and only a little time!" Alice said loudly. I just shook my head and jumped down, shifting in the process. I stood up and looked back at Caleb, who raised his head and tilted it. I walked to the foot of my bed and leaned over him, my hand on Edward's shoulder to steady me. I placed a kiss on Caleb's forehead, and he licked my chin.

"Remember, be good. Okay?" I asked, and he nodded his head once. He jumped from Edward's lap and ran in circles on the bed before jumping back on Edward again.

"You're gonna stay right there?" He nodded again and I smiled, placing another kiss to his head. He really had become my son in the weeks since Edward and I rescued him, and when he called Edward _daddy_ . . . it made my stomach feel funny. Not a bad funny, the same kind of funny I first felt with Edward. The one that turned out to be good. When I went to join Alice and Rose, Jasper decided to open his mouth.

"You forgot Edward, Bella," he said with a strangled chuckle. I turned and looked at him, a pout on my face.

"Oh, do you feel left out?" I asked, and he just smiled his half-smile. I took the few steps until I was next to him again and kissed his cheek, feeling that jolt hit me like I kissed a live electrical wire. I gasped quietly, and we both flinched at the feeling. It was like the shower all over again, except even stronger. We stared at each other in surprise, but his eyes were soft, like he was thinking about something. I didn't ask, just stood and lightly brushed my hand over the back of his arm as I walked away. I gave my dad a quick hug and my brothers ruffled my hair before the three of us girls left the guys to their day together. We walked to Esme and Carlisle's room at the end of the hall in silence, but it didn't last long.

"So spill," Alice said, taking a seat on the bed with my mother and Esme. Both of them must have heard at least part of the conversation with our hearing, since there was no hint of confusion.

"Spill what?" I asked, taking the desk chair and pulling it to the side of the bed. I propped my feet up on the edge as she glared suspiciously.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, missy," Alice said, poking my foot. I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. She sighed loudly.

"What is going on between you and Edward?" she huffed, and Rose laid across the middle of the bed in front of me. She rested her chin in her hands and stared at me, waiting for something juicy.

"There's nothing!" I said, throwing my hands up. "What makes you think there's something going on?" I asked. They all just stared, and I groaned.

"Ugh, I don't know . . ." I whined, giving in and slapping my legs with my hands in frustration.

"Well, tell us! Maybe it will help to say everything you're feeling out loud," Esme said, looking more enthusiastic than I had ever seen her. I gave my mother a pleading look.

"Oh, no, you don't. I'm not getting you out of this one," she said, shaking her finger at me. "Besides, I'm just as curious as they are, with what I saw between the two of you in the shower last week." I groaned as the others squealed.

"Now you're definitely spilling!"Alice screeched, and I flinched at the high pitch.

"Fine . . ." I moaned. "I went to take a shower the night I woke up—I still can't believe I was out for three whole days . . ."

"Bella!" Alice, Rosalie, and Esme yelled simultaneously. I shook my head and continued.

"When I got in the shower, the sounds of mom and dad talking outside the door and the click of the door closing me in the bathroom triggered memories of the night Aro and Tanya came to my room. I broke down and Edward came in. He held me until I calmed down and sang to me."

"_Awww!_" all of them screeched, and I laughed it off.

"Oh, don't you do that Isabella Marie!" my other scolded.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Brush off this boy's importance to you! I saw how you clung to him like you would die if you let go. It's something I have been wishing for my girl since the day you were born, to find the one you care about," she explained, her face and voice softening.

"This is so frustrating," Alice grumbled. "I could just look to see what's in store for the two of you, and don't deny there isn't! All of us can see it," she said, her finger in my face. I nodded quickly and she backed up. "But anything I see, Edward will too," she finished.

"Why don't you want him to see?" I asked, shrugging my shoulder.

"I know Edward, and anything I see, he'll try to make not happen. I talked with Jazz, and he said Edward is still in denial. He feels unworthy whenever he's around you, and I know exactly what he'll do if he finds out the two of you have a future," she explained.

"Okay . . . I have a guess . . . but what would he do? And . . . why would he feel unworthy? I'm the one who's been used like a disposable sex toy by every male and most of the female vampires in this castle, _plus_ some of their friends. I should be the one feeling unworthy," I asked hesitantly.

"To answer your first question," she started quietly, more quietly than I have ever heard her speak, "he would do anything in his power to make sure you got the life he thought you deserved. He may be over a hundred years old, but he still thinks himself a monster and undeserving of finding the one he could spend the rest of his life with. And I think that answers question two, as well."

"He . . . he _what_?" I asked, my voice breaking. His family just nodded, and I could see my mom tearing up just at the thought. "_Why_?"

"He . . . he wasn't always on the diet he's on now, Bella, and he won't let himself forget that," Esme explained softly. "It's not that he can't, he just refuses to. He sees himself as an equal to those living here and undeserving of finding his mate for the rest of his life." I could see venom pooling in her eyes as she thought about the fate her son had thrown upon himself, and I couldn't help the tear that fell from my own.

"He can't . . . think like that . . ." I sobbed, not bothering to wipe the moisture from my face. "He's nothing like them . . ."

"We know that, but he refuses to realize it," Alice said, her hands in her lap. "That's why we got so excited just now, thinking maybe he was coming to his senses, but he isn't. All of them just ran into the woods to do their bonding . . . whatever, and I saw him still thinking the happiness he was feeling would end the day he leaves your presence, but he isn't thinking of doing anything about it."

"What if I want him?" I asked, my tears drying in anger. "Has he even thought about what I want?" Alice shook her head.

"No, and that's exactly why Rosalie, Esme, and I planned this little shopping expedition. We want to help change his mind in every way we can think of. Besides, you need your own clothes, ones that you actually like," she said, looking disdainfully at my current attire.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked indignantly, and she waved a hand to gesture at my clothes.

"You're wearing my brother's extra long sweatpants rolled up to fit you, and a t-shirt you could swim in," she responded, scowling. I didn't even have a chance to say the _so_ that was on the tip of my tongue . . .

Oh. My. God.

Talk about the longest, most tiring day of my _entire freaking life_ . . . We came back in the rental Porsche and Volvo with both trunks filled to the brim. Some bags were even in the back seats . . . and there were only clothes for me and my mother; the other three girls didn't buy a single thing for themselves. My mother tried to let her pay for something, but it was futile. Although, they did have a point: she didn't have any money to spend to begin with . . . I actually dozed off for a minute or two on the way home, but couldn't go back to sleep once I saw how fast Alice was driving.

When we finally pulled into the castle gates, I took a few moments to pry my fingers from the seat cushion. Alice and Rosalie laughed as they watched, and I glared. Alice was about to say something when her phone rang from inside the nauseatingly expensive bag sitting between us.

"Edward, what—" she started, but her voice cut off as her eyes unfocused. I went to touch her arm, but Rosalie held me back. There was a soft click from her cell as Edward hung up, and I could only hope he was coming. Esme and Renee stood outside until Alice blinked, gasping and turning to me abruptly, her eyes scared.

"Alice, what is it? What's going on?" I asked hesitantly, scared to hear the answer. She scrambled out of the car, Rosalie following closely behind. I followed suit, coming around the front of the car to join the others.

"He's coming for you," Alice said. "Aro's getting suspicious of Edward, and is going to go up to Bella's room in ten minutes and thirty seconds to find out from her mind what's going on. He'll find out about her feelings for him and his reactions to her emotions. He'll know Edward has been lying, just by looking into her memories."

"What's he going to do, Alice?" my mother asked, wrapping her arms around my increasingly shaking form.

"We need to stay calm and quiet," Rose whispered, her voice steady and low. "Anyone in that castle could easily hear us and warn him that we know. We need to delay until the boys show up. Edward will know what was happening when he heard Alice go into her vision." All of us nodded once, and I looked imploringly at Alice, begging her to answer my question. Her face crumbled as she was about to tell me, but she stopped when Edward and the others appeared next to us.

"Emmett and Jasper are bringing the other cars around. They took everything from our rooms and threw it in the car. All of you need to be ready to get in and drive. Don't say where, don't think where, don't do anything until you're out of this country," Edward said quickly, looking at each of us in turn. I saw the faces around me fall for a moment in despair, but quickly change to those of the determined. As soon as I saw that, I realized what they did.

"You . . . you're not . . . coming?" I asked, shaking harder at the thought. He gave me a sad smile and shook his head.

"I'm going to try to buy you enough time to get out of here," he said, and I shook my head, taking a step towards him.

"But . . . why? You can't do this, Edward," I pleaded, putting my hand to his face. He turned his head and pressed his cool lips to my palm, my body immediately humming from the contact. Emmett and Jasper drove up on either side of our group and stepped out, Caleb sitting in the crook of Jasper's elbow.

"Bella, you have to get out of here. You have to be safe with your family. I am going to do everything I can to make sure you stay that way. You should never have had to go through what you did here, and I'm not going to see you die because I didn't do anything to prevent it," he said softly, but his head whipped to the front doors of the castle.

"No . . ." he whispered, turning back to us and whisking me up into his arms. "You need to leave. Now." The others jumped into action and ran to the cars as Edward rushed to put me back in the passenger seat of the Porsche. I had no idea who was in what car, but it didn't matter at that point. Edward was moving back from the door, but I reached out and grabbed his shirt. He put his hand over mine, looking like he was struggling just as much as I was.

"Be happy, Bella. Be with your family and be happy . . . for me," he pleaded, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. Tears fell like rain from my eyes and he bent down, wiping them away.

"Happy," he whispered again, but I shook my head, grabbing his with both of my hands and slamming my mouth to his. He responded immediately, moving his lips with mine with fervor, and I felt my lip split and bleed with our force. He broke away all too soon with a gasp and a drop of my blood on his lip. He was only an inch or two from me when he licked it into his mouth, his eyes flashing bright green for a moment before turning dark gold again. A jolt shot through me and warmed my entire body, even though we were no longer touching. And it didn't go away. Something fell into my lap, but I ignored it, trying to get a grip on him again to yank him into the car.

"Alice, go!" he yelled before slamming my door shut. The castle doors blasted open as Aro, Jane, and Alec came hurrying out, but we were already past the gates.

I turned in my seat just in time to see Edward collapse to the ground, writhing in pain as Jane stared sadistically down at him. Aro watched us drive away, a smug smile on his face. Jane looked us at the car, and I threw my shield over all of us just as I felt her power reach the quickly moving cars. I was crying hysterically at this point, and one turn took Edward from my sight, igniting a pain like nothing I had ever felt in my chest. Alice looked at me worriedly, but kept driving. Rose put a hand on my shoulder as I collapsed back into my seat, her face full of anger and sadness.

"This isn't over, Bella," she growled, and I looked back at her, determination all over my face as I shook my head slowly, my now constant hum burning within me.

"No . . . it's far from over."


	19. Chapter 18 Prisoner

_Prisoner_

My heart soared as I listened to the squealing tires of the four vehicles leaving the castle. Aro's mind was infuriated as he watched his most prized possessions drive away with my family, but he controlled his face. He needed Jane to cooperate, and she wouldn't if she thought he valued Bella and her family more than her. He sneered at me and put a hand on Jane's shoulder, who smiled with sadistic glee. I collapsed to the ground in excruciating pain, my body writhing in response, but my mind calm with the knowledge that I finally fulfilled my promise.

"You will pay for what you just did, _boy_," Aro growled, grabbing my face in his hand. He scraped his way roughly through my mind, pushing aside the contentment I was filled with to find what he was looking for. My feelings towards Bella, the plan I finally had to let myself think up in order to successfully get her out, my intentions all along, and my plan to betray him from the moment I asked him to give me Bella were laid out for him to see, examine.

"You know they will come back for you," he said, not asking me. He knew my family well enough, and could see Bella and my relationship for himself; I didn't bother denying it. "I will be ready when they do, and you all will die. No one takes what is mine," he snarled, stabbing his fingers into my skin so hard they actually broke the skin. I killed the gasp I almost let go at the physical pain, something I hadn't felt in a long time.

"I am going to kill that girl as you watch, and that little shit you found will follow. Her family will scream and cry for mercy as they watch their youngest die, and they will quickly join her. But you . . . you will be last, my boy. You will be forced to watch as everything and everyone you love is ripped to pieces and burned before your eyes." An image of my phone flashed through my mind, and I quickly smashed it.

"Ah, Edward, you will never speak to any of them again, not even with your little phone. I will make sure of that personally," he sneered, smashing the back of my head into the pavement. I saw stars just in time for Jane to up the pain, driving me straight into the blackness threatening to take me.

I woke with a hit to the face, Felix's guffawing laugh echoing in my skull. I opened my eyes just in time for his fist to smash into my face again, my nose breaking with the force of the blow. It immediately healed itself, and he hit me again, laughing the whole time.

"Stop for a moment, Felix. Let me speak with him," Aro's voice said from behind the brute. Felix gave me a sneer, letting me know in his head that he wasn't finished yet, but I just sighed.

I was in one of the dungeons in the deepest bowels of the castle, that much I could tell. It was nothing like the cells Bella's parents and brothers had been in. I was sitting on a dirt floor with what appeared to be cement walls, but I assumed were stronger, since these were built to hold vampires. Maybe they were laced with that vervain plant that was supposed to weaken us . . . I couldn't be sure. I never had any experience with it, but I heard it actually worked.

"Young Cullen, are you ready to tell me what I want to know?" Aro asked, standing above me with his hands clasped behind his back.

"What do you expect me to tell you, Aro?" I responded with a sneer. "You already know I told them not to tell me anything about where they were going. I bet you wish you hadn't had your tracker killed, huh?" He struck me across my face, his nails raking the skin of my cheek and splitting it open. It immediately closed up again without leaving a mark.

"You will tell me where you think they would go, Mr. Cullen, or I will continue to let Felix do as he pleases with you until you do. You will not feed until I get the information I desire, so you should pray he does not hurt you too badly. It would cut down the time you have left before you are a living skeleton in my dungeons, and you would not want that, would you?" he explained, stepping back and waiting for me to respond. I kept quiet, keeping Bella and Caleb at the front of my mind.

I closed my eyes and sighed, leaning my head back against the wall and focusing only on them and not the noises around me. All of a sudden, the air was punched out of me as someone's fist buried itself in my abdomen. My eyes shot open and I bent forward, wrapping my arms around myself. I cursed my need to hunt after so long as I felt my healing ability slow by just a hair; I hadn't gotten to while out with my brothers, but that had been the plan. At this rate, I would last a week at the most before my body would stop healing my injuries.

"Do what you please, Felix. I am sure you would like the opportunity to repay him for cutting your session with _Isabella_ short," he said, smiling sickly at me. I snarled as her name passed from his mouth.

"Don't you _dare_ speak her name!" I roared, jumping to my feet and taking a step towards him. That was as far as I got before both Felix and one of the other guard members pinned me to the wall. Aro slowly, menacingly walked up to me, a faux-sympathetic smile on his face.

"You fell in love with something that was not yours to fall for, young Cullen. And I will do as I please, _boy_," he said, punctuating his comment with another slash to my face. Felix laughed as he punched me again, my head slamming back into the wall. My head fell forward and they let me drop to the floor in a heap.

"That useless bitch and her family are mine, and I will get them back. I assure you of that," he snarled from above me, and walked out, leaving Felix behind. I eventually passed out from pain and weakness with Bella's smiling face shining out of the blackness behind my eyes.

"_I can't take this anymore_!" I roared, pacing right outside my bedroom window with Edward's cell phone clutched in my hands. Caleb was currently attached to the side of my pant leg, hanging on for dear life as he tried to comfort me. I had been in Edward's t-shirt and sweats since we arrived at the Cullens' remote cabin in the Russian wilderness. There was a good three inches of snow on the ground, but I ignored the coldness on my bare feet. I had other things on my mind.  
>It had been three days since I had to watch Edward writhe in pain from the rear window as we drove away, and I had been hurting the entire time. Not physically hurting, but mentally. Every time I thought about Edward, that memory would squash any happy one I had. I could still feel his pain now, flashes like he was being hit, and then a constant thrumming until he healed. What scared me the most was the thrumming was getting longer, like he wasn't healing like he should have been. The first day it had disappeared almost instantly, but now it was almost a minute before it faded completely. I mentioned it to my parents, Carlisle, and Esme, and they came up with a reasonable, but unexpected, theory.<p>

"_You mated with him, Bells," Charlie said with a small smile on his face. We were in what served as Carlisle's office, but the décor was lost on me. "That's why you can feel his pain."_

"_But . . . we didn't do anything. How am I mated to him?" I asked, confused._

"_Seeing as he's a vampire, I have no idea how you mated with him. Can you think of anything?" he asked in response. I started shaking my head, but then I remembered what happened right before we drove away._

"_My blood . . ." I whispered, raising my fingers to my split lip and immediately catching Carlisle's attention._

"_What about your blood, Bella?" he asked hurriedly, looking at my fingers._

"_I . . . I kissed him . . . and my lip split. A drop of my blood was on his mouth when he pulled away to close the door to the car . . ." I whispered, watching the scene in my mind as I described it. "His eyes . . ." I said, but didn't finish._

"_Please tell us, dear," Esme said softly. "Anything will help at this point." I nodded and looked at each of the adults standing before me.  
>For some reason, I felt comforted when I remembered how long each of them had been alive, how much experience they had gained in their years. It was like they gave me hope that they would be able to handle what was going on. I felt like a child again. I started breaking down, tears pouring down my face and my knees giving out. My mom and Esme caught me as I collapsed, both of the wrapping me up in their embrace and just holding me.<em>

"_I can't take this . . . I just can't . . ." I kept saying. All I could think about was Edward being tortured like I was, and my guilt overwhelmed me. I didn't know how we were going to save him, how we were going to get him out, and the pressure was suffocating. I could feel Jasper trying to help, but my shield was keeping his power off of me._

"_Bella, please let Jasper help you," my mother said, and I tried to grasp my shield to bring it down. It kept slipping away from me every time, and I was in hysterics._

"_I . . . c-can't . . . I can't . . . get it," I sobbed, and they both tried to calm me down. Esme started humming softly, and my mother whispered in my ear._

"_Yes, you can, Bella. Please just concentrate. Do it for Edward, Bells. He needs you to help him, and you can't do it like this." That was all it took. I threw everything I had in me at my shield, bringing it crashing down and letting Jasper's ability help get my emotions under control. I was finally able to choke out the word "green," and both Carlisle and Esme knew what I was talking about._

"_That was it," Carlisle said. "That had to be when it happened." My dad asked what he was talking about, and Carlisle explained. "When Edward was under my care as a human, when he caught the Spanish Influenza, his eyes were green. For his eyes to revert back, even for just a moment, after ingesting a drop of your blood, that had to have been the moment you mated. It may not be complete just yet, since it was only a minute amount and was not exactly the usual way shifters mate, but for all intents and purposes, you are."_

So, I was mated. Good thing? I couldn't be ordered around by anyone else but Edward unless they're more dominant, which I highly doubted. Bad thing? He was currently being punished for giving me my freedom. Another bad thing? I had no idea if what would have changed with a full mating actually did. I only assumed I couldn't be ordered, but I didn't know for sure.

"Bella, calm down. You're going to wear little Caleb's legs out, trying to hold on to you," my mother said, jumping from my window and landing next to me. I paused for a moment and scooped Caleb into my arms, pressing my nose into his fur and nuzzling his neck. He licked my cheek and whined, making me give him a small smile in return. I looked back to my mother and sighed loudly.

"It hurts all the time now, mom . . . He's being tortured, and I'm out here living in a cabin in the middle of the woods, hundreds of miles from him. I still feel like a prisoner because I know he took my place . . . The guilt won't let go . . . I won't let it go . . . I don't know how much longer I can stand this . . . how much longer _he_ can stand this . . ." I whispered, a tear falling down my cheek and into Caleb's coat. He licked the salty water from my skin, and yipped.

_There! All better_, he thought, a foxy smile on his little face. I chuckled and shook my head at him.

"No, but thank you for trying, baby," I said, rubbing the side of my face to his. His ears drooped and I looked at him with a question on my face.

_Mommy sad cuz daddy gone?_ he asked, and I nodded.

"Mommy misses him, baby," I responded, and he looked down for a minute before looking at me again, his eyes glassy with moisture.

_Me miss too_ . . . he whispered, and I whined.

"Oh, baby . . . We're going to get him back, don't you worry." I held him tighter, feeling his small body tremble as he tried not to cry. His human tendencies, like crying, were finally making themselves known at six weeks of age. In two more, he should be starting, if not able to, shift into his human toddler form. I couldn't wait to see it, but I didn't want to without Edward there next to me.

"What do you want from me, Aro? You know I can't tell you anything, so what else is there?" I asked quietly, boredom pouring from my mouth.

According to Aro, who made sure to keep me up to date on how many days it had been since my family and Bella's left, today was day three of my imprisonment. I tried not to think about it, but my body already wasn't healing anything like it should. I still had a scar from Felix slashing across my left bicep that was just healing from the day before. It took at least a minute for the wound to close, and the scars took about a day now.

"Oh, I do not desire anything from you, Edward. As you have repeatedly brought to my attention, you took precautions to prevent my attaining any useful information from you. Now it is just punishment for releasing my shifters," he answered, inspecting his pale white hands. I just rolled my eyes.

"Remove his shirt, Felix," Aro ordered. "He does not need it down here." Felix did as he was ordered, ripping the shredded fabric from my torso. Aro's eyes suddenly lit up and an image of Bella's name appeared in his mind. He clapped his hands together and said excitedly, "I know exactly what you can do to him today, Felix." He paused dramatically, and I just closed my eyes in exhaustion. "You can carve the little slut's name into his . . . What is that?" he asked suddenly, his order temporarily forgotten. I opened my eyes and looked to see him glaring at the spot over my heart. I followed his gaze and my eyes widened in surprise.

My once clear, pale white skin now had a fist-sized bundle of lines directly over my still heart. Different angles rotated and bent to form a small animal's head. A large angle sat at the bottom, facing up. Two smaller angles sat above it, a small space between them. In the middle were two small ovals with pointed ends . . .  
><em>A fox<em> . . . I thought to myself. _An outline of a fox's head . . ._

"_No_!" Aro roared, grabbing me by my neck and lifting me from the corner I was sitting in. "You _mated_ with that bitch, didn't you?" he snarled, and I smirked.

"You know the answer to that, Aro. I can see it in your mind. Now you've really lost her . . . You can't order her around like your little sex slave anymore. She's free of you and you sadistic mind—" I ranted, but he cut me off by slamming my head into the wall, cracking the cement bricks behind me.

"I was debating keeping her and forcing her to watch _you_ die instead of my original plan, but you have left me no choice. Because of you she will die as soon as I get my hands on her," Aro snarled in my face, his blood red eyes staring into mine.

"Oh? And how do you plan to do that?" I asked, still smirking.

"I will not have to do anything, dear boy," he responded, releasing his grip and letting me fall to the floor. "I know your family well enough to know they will not leave you here to live out eternity or die. I also know, if the shifter's mating bond is as strong as that of two vampires, which I highly doubt, she will not be able to stand knowing you are being constantly tortured. They will come for you, and I will be ready for them. As soon as they step foot in Volterra, they will be at my mercy. And I will show them _none_," he spat before walking back toward the cell door. Felix took his place in front of me, and I could hear a high-pitched female voice coming from behind him.

"Aro, what are you doing?" Tanya asked, her pitch making my ears ring. "He's not the one I wanted to hurt, that slutty animal was!"

"He took something that wasn't his, Tanya, and he needs to be punished for it. Besides, you had no trouble helping me rape the girl even though it hurt him. Why do you care now?" Aro asked without much emotion.

"Why do I care? I wanted him to leave that bitch broken and come back to me, not drive them closer together!" she screeched, and I growled.

"I can't come back to someone I was never with, nor _would_ I," I snarled, trying to move to face her. "What is it going to take to make you understand that?" Aro, of course, had the perfect idea.

"He's mated to her now. Does that change your mind?" he said, and she screeched yet again, appearing before me and staring down at the tattoo on my chest with her now blood red eyes. She slashed her long nails across it, venom pouring from the long gashes as I held in a hiss of pain. When it started healing, she slashed again and again. I eventually grunted when she reached my rib bones, but she didn't stop. Aro eventually grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her away. I groaned quietly, attempting to put my hand over the wound, but couldn't muster the energy. My hand fell back to the floor with a soft _thump_, and a strange warmth passed over me. It paused on my wound, easing the pain for just a moment, before brushing against my cheek and slowly fading away.

"He will pay for what has happened, my dear. I assure you, Felix will hold nothing back," he crooned to her, placing his free hand right above her ass. I was too focused on what I had just felt to really care. I couldn't tell _what_ it was, but my instincts knew _who_. _Bella_ . . .

"If I can't have him . . . no one can. I won't lose the one thing I want to an _animal_. Make him pay for what he did to me," she snarled, not turning to look. I didn't care. My chest was trying to heal from her assault, but the wounds were bone-deep and ragged. I could feel myself quickly becoming more and more exhausted, my eyes getting darker and darker as my energy depleted. My skin felt like it was tightening around my frame, turning me into a living skeleton, but I knew it wasn't happening. At least . . . not yet. I fought to stay conscious as Felix approached again, standing before me and waiting for his next order. He didn't wait long.

"Carve him up like the animals he feeds from. Just leave his head attached so you can do it again later."


	20. Chapter 19 The Plan

_The Plan_

I was sitting in the middle of the Russian wilderness, snow surrounding me and Caleb laying in my lap up off the wet snow surrounding us. He had just been romping around in it, but he got tired quicker playing in the snow than in the house. He only lasted a half hour before he dragged himself over to me and fell asleep. I didn't mind taking him with me; I was happier with him where I could see him, even if I knew I left him with family.

I settled my hands in my lap and completely relaxed my entire body, letting my chin hit my chest and my eyes slowly drift closed of their own accord. I inhaled deeply through my nose, and slowly exhaled from my mouth, effectively centering myself.

I focused on the world around me, the smells, sounds, and sensations of the Mother. The gentle breeze embracing me as it drifted by; the flakes of snow coaxed from the branches of the trees falling lightly into my hair; the warm rays of the sun peeking through the frozen, creaking branches of the trees to caress my chilled skin; the crisp smell of freshly fallen snow; of autumn leaves hiding under the inches of white powder; the brush of Caleb's breath against my thigh . . .

I focused on nothing else, and was suddenly flying through the ground, my vision nothing but sand, soil, and rock rushing by as though I were running through it myself. I would come up out of the ground every now and then, watching cities flash by in a blur of color and sound just to plunge back into the ground once more. After what felt like a few minutes, but in reality was much less, I emerged from the ground again to see the walls of Volterra looming over the horizon. I kept my apprehension in check, not wanting to break my concentration and the connection, and dove back down into the ground. I sank to the lowest level of the castle, going under the concrete walls and back up through the dirt floor. I popped up on a no-so-pretty sight.

Tanya slashed her nails across Edward's chest, right over his heart, and the skin closed. She got even angrier and she slashed him again and again, and Aro finally moved her away when Edward grunted in pain. I could feel his pain in my own chest, and slowly placed my hand over his injury. He tried to lift his hand, but it fell right back to his side. His breath slowly left him as I eased some of his pain, but I couldn't keep it up and not go flying back to my body. I moved my hand away and brushed the back of it lightly against his cheek.

"He will pay for what has happened, my dear. I assure you, Felix will hold nothing back," Aro crooned to Tanya, placing his free hand right above her ass. I rolled my eyes and looked back to Edward, whose eyes were drifting closed as he started losing consciousness.

"If I can't have him . . . no one can. I won't lose the one thing I want to an _animal_. Make him pay for what he did to me," she snarled, not turning around as they walked to the doorway of Edward's cell. I almost growled at her words, but kept quiet. It wouldn't help anyone to hear a disembodied growl come from nowhere.

A small gasp tried to escape as I looked at Edward, but I managed to hold that in too. His wound was trying to heal itself, but it was pulling on the last of his body's energy reserves. His skin was tightening all over his body as I watched, disgusted, guilty, and sad all at once. His face was gaunt, his cheeks slightly sallow, and even the whites of his eyes were getting dark with his worsening hunger.

"Carve him up like the animals he feeds from," Aro said, making me spin around to watch him sneer at Edward's decrepit form. "Just leave his head attached so you can do it again later."

I was suddenly pulled back with a tangible _snap_, and screamed in both despair and agony. My arms wrapped around my body as a searing pain erupted in my chest. Someone was trying to get my attention, but I was too focused on what I was feeling from Edward. His pain was so intense, I cried out and put my left hand over my right shoulder, keeping my other arm wrapped around me. I refused to let myself think of what happened to him if his pain was there, and instead focused on the humming being overshadowed by the pain. Our distance made me uncomfortable, or so Carlisle assumed, but it didn't do anything to lessen the pain I was feeling. The humming was just as strong as ever, and a reassurance that he was still there waiting for us to rescue him. There was no doubt in my mind that if something happened to him, if he was taken from me, I would know the moment it happened. The hum would disappear, and knowing that, I clung to the feeling like it was the only thing keeping me alive, more so than my own heartbeat. My mating with Edward, even though it wasn't yet complete, had really brought forward those feelings that had confused me so much, the ones from before I really started trusting him. I knew what they were now, and the pain lessened just a little as I let them fill me.

Peace, safety, caring, love . . .

Love. Something I thought I would never get the chance to find, but did in the strangest of places . . . And I couldn't have been happier. Edward was similar to my captors, and yet, so vastly different. He was everything I never thought a vampire could be. Kind, caring, compassionate, respectful, humble to the point of self-loathing . . . and he could love. I could feel it in amongst the pain . . . every time he thought of me, even as we pulled away three days ago, leaving him to fend for himself, I could feel his love, his happiness at giving me my freedom.

"Bella!" someone yelled, making me jump in fright. I blinked until I could see the snow-covered forest again to find Renee kneeling in front of me. "Bella, are you alright?" It took me a second to recognize what she had asked me, but I nodded, releasing my hold on myself. I reigned in the panic I could feel threatening to bubble up again, and opened my shield to Jasper. I could feel him trying to help me, even though he knew I was under my shield.

"I'm . . . okay," I said still trying to catch my breath. Esme rubbed my back as my mom tucked my hair behind my ears.

"No, you're not," Jasper whispered, his hand landing gently on my head. I didn't respond, lowering my head and letting a tear fall. He was right, but I couldn't say it without breaking down again. Caleb licked the moisture from my face, settling himself back into my lap and resting his paws on my chest so he was laying against me, but sitting up. I petted his head, bringing my hand from the top to his chin before kissing his nose. He sneezed and I gave him a small smile.

"Bells, honey, let's get back to the house," my dad said gently. "It's freezing out here, and we have something we need to discuss."

"I can't . . ." I whispered, keeping my gaze locked with Caleb's. "I can't go inside . . . not just yet." I shook my head, and Esme rested hers on my shoulder comfortingly. My brothers kneeled down in front of me.

"We know what's going on," Joey started, giving me a sympathetic smile.

"And we know exactly what you need," Josh finished, his eyes sparkling with excitement. I gave them both a questioning look, and Josh placed Caleb in Alice's arms.

"Take care of him while we're gone?" he asked, and she nodded.

"We'll find something to do to pass the time. You'll be gone for about an hour, so we'll wait for our discussion until you get back," she answered, and he nodded. He turned back to me, and each of them stuck out a hand to help me up. I gave them another look, and they finally decided to tell me what was going on.

"We're going to go for a run," they said simultaneously, and I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. I forgot how much fun they were to be around, how they were so willing to keep their little sister happy at all costs. Even when we were only a few day old, they would push me over to mom at feeding time before indulging themselves. They've always looked out for me.

"Stop your thinking and get to stepping, baby sister. No time for that brain stuff," Josh said, ruffling my hair. I pushed his hand away, and he leapt forward, shifting into a wolf. Joey followed suit, running up next to Josh, and they both looked back at me expectantly. I looked back to Caleb, still sitting in Alice's arms, and he waved a paw at me. I smiled and waved back before taking off running, shifting before my feet hit the ground.

If a human had been in those woods, they would have seen nothing but three grey blurs. We ran as fast as we could, swerving around trees, jumping ravines, diving under logs and over boulders, just embracing the feeling of our true mother around us. The wind cradled our lithe bodies as we ran, the snow barely moving under our paws. The last rays of the sun warmed our fur as the full moon began its slow ascent into the twilight sky. We turned back as the last of the stars made their appearance in the blue-black sky, the light of the moon showing us the way back home.

_Momma!_ Caleb yelled when we appeared outside the house. He came running up, constantly falling face down in the snow until he reached my feet. He sat back on his little butt and shook the snow from his head before jumping on my back.

_Hi, baby_, I said, turning my head to rub my cheek against his head. He roughly pressed his head against mine, whining in happiness. We lightly jogged into the house and I set Caleb's small, wet body in front of the small fireplace in the living room. He was shaking from the cold, and Esme draped a fleece blanket over him. I laid down next to him wrapping my body around his, and he fell asleep almost immediately. I sighed and shook my head before looking back up at the others, who had sat down in the couches and on the floor.

"So, Bella, before we discuss what we are going to do, I was hoping you would be able to tell us what you saw," Carlisle said hesitantly, giving me a hopeful look.

"And what the hell that was!" Emmett yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands. I huffed a laugh and shook my head.

_It has to do with how close shifters are to nature_, I started. _We are essentially every living creature on the planet rolled into one, and it gives us a bond with nature that others don't, and can't, have. I was able to use that connection to look in on . . . on Edward_, I stuttered, shaking my head to keep the tears away. I plowed on, not letting myself get caught up again.

_We can only go through materials that are in their natural state, like the dirt floor of the castle. It doesn't have concrete or steel or anything like that, so I was able to get in. As for what I saw . . . Aro, Tanya, and Felix were with Edward. Tanya must have seen Edward's tattoo showing our . . . mating because she kept . . . attacking him there . . . like she was trying to rip it from his body . . . Aro took her away and told Felix . . ._ I paused, taking a deep breath before pushing on again. _He told him to carve Edward up like the animals he feeds on_. The entire room gasped in shock, and I closed my eyes, finishing the memory. _He also told him to make sure to leave Edward's head attached so he could do it again._

Everyone had a different reaction to this information. Esme broke into dry sobs, Alice looked to see what would happen, Carlisle stood and paced, my brothers stood with their hair standing on end in anger, my father roared loudly, Renee covered her face with her hands, Rose cursed loudly and embraced Esme, Emmett smashed a large hole into the wall, and Caleb flinched at all the sudden movements and sounds. Jasper's hands went to his hair as he tried to combat all of the strong emotions he was feeling, and I wrapped my shield around him to keep the emotions at bay. The only unanimous reaction was the scream of the word "no."

"We're getting him out of there before they lay another hand on him!" Emmett roared, joining Carlisle in his pacing.

"We must. It will be much sooner than I anticipated, I'm afraid. We will not have as much time to form a plan as I had hoped," Carlisle whispered while he nodded.

"I can't see anything about how this will turn out, but if we don't do something soon, we won't have to," Alice said softly, her eyes filling with venom.

"How long, Alice?" Jasper asked, draping a comforting arm over her shoulders. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself.

"If we don't do anything to try to get him out, he only has a week before Aro's patience runs out," she whispered, tears silently falling down her face as she watched the events play out. I whined as the pain in my chest increased, and my brothers sat around me, keeping a hand on me. I pressed my forehead into Joey's thigh, closing my eyes tightly as the pain pulsed in time with my heart beat, slowly calming down again after a minute or two. I left my head where it was and sighed once the pain reached a tolerable level.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, and I nodded once.

_As good as I can be, I guess_, I answered. In truth, I wouldn't be okay until Edward was free of Aro's grasp and back by my side, safe and sound. Joey seemed to know what I was thinking, and gently petted the top of my head.

"So, what are we going to do?" Emmett asked, cracking his knuckles loudly in anticipation. Carlisle sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I smiled thinking of how much time he and Edward had to have been together for Carlisle to pick up that habit.

"That is what we need to discuss," he responded, and I could feel his gaze on me. "I am afraid that most, if not all of our plans will require quite a bit from you, Bella. Edward will not like it, but you and your family are the ones that could get to him easiest." I raised my head and nodded to him once.

_I understand, Carlisle_, I said confidently, more confidently than I felt. _I will do whatever it takes to get him out_. He nodded and gave me a small smile, turning to Jasper.

"We will have no choice but an all-out assault on the castle, right next to where Edward is being kept," Jasper said, standing and pacing in front of us. "If we try to enter the castle peacefully and make our way down to his cell, I can only imagine us being caught as soon as we stepped foot inside." He turned to Alice, who nodded in defeat. He sighed and started pacing again.

"If we make our way into the castle through the tunnels, we might be able to get to him without much of a fight. Not many guards are assigned to those tunnels anymore," Jasper continued, his military mind visibly at work. "Alice can tell us which ones to go through to get to him the fastest, but I see the difficult part as getting back out. We could try to go back the way we came—"

"No, we'll be cornered and captured as soon as we enter the first tunnel. They'll be waiting for us," Alice said, cutting him off. He nodded knowingly, expecting that outcome.

"What about going up? Getting out through the window of one of the rooms upstairs?" he asked, and she shook her head again.

"They'll all be coming from the upper floors and heading down. Aro won't have his guard down to a safe level for us to get in until after he's finished with Edward for good. I see all of us able to get to him . . . but we don't get out," she said quietly. All of us sat in silence for a moment before a thought hit my mind.

My body tensed as I ran through the scenario over and over, waiting for something to appear and stop us from being successful. When nothing came to mind, I looked to Alice, whose eyes were unfocused as she looked ahead. A small smile appeared on her face, and it slowly grew until she jumped up and down on the couch, clapping her hands wildly.

"Oh, my God, Bella!" she screeched, making me flinch and waking Caleb with a jolt. "Can you really do that? That would be amazing, and it would so completely work!" I nodded.

_It might, but I can't be sure. We'll still need another plan if this one doesn't, but the problem is just that. If this plan stops working in the middle of us using it, it leaves us stranded. We'd need a few back-ups to cover every possible angle_, I explained, watching each of the faces except our turn to one of confusion. I told them my plan, watching as my parents and brothers glowed with pride for me. The Cullens' eyes glowed bright gold with excitement when finished, and Jasper rubbed his hands together.

"Let's get started on plans B through Z!"

After we went through my plan with a fine-toothed comb, it left the Cullens happy but uneasy with the roles everyone would play. My family and I would be getting Carlisle and Jasper in, and the rest of the Cullens would be waiting in the wings in case anyone from the castle came by. Rose and Esme would be in the waiting vehicles in the next town over, and Carlisle called to have their private jet ready to take off tomorrow night at nine o'clock. We would leave for the castle at eight, giving us one hour to get in and get out as quickly and quietly as we could, and get to the next town and the cars to bring us to the air strip. If all went as planned, Edward's rescue would be fairly simple and straight forward.

I sighed as I thought of everything that could go wrong as I sat in the same spot I had been in before. I ran my hand lightly over the pure white snow, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. I focused on the plan set for the next day, on what I _needed _to happen tomorrow at just the right time to get my family, Edward, and I safely out of the castle and on our way home.

We discovered that the Cullens had been planning to move to our home town after their time at the castle, and decided to stick with that plan. They had been worried at first about how long we had been gone and if anyone would recognize us, but we quickly reassured them. Renee and Charlie were going to shift so they looked even years older than they stopped themselves at, and I was debating if I was going to do the same. Our story for Charlie's job and my school was that we were captured and held hostage by a zealous religious group living in the outskirts of an Italian town. We just needed people to believe it was possible it happened, but the Cullens had their forger making paperwork supposedly from the Italian government, apologizing for the events that kept us captive so long. I figured I'd have to age myself, but I wouldn't go back to school. I was supposed to graduate five years before, and I wasn't willing to surround myself with over-hormonal human teenagers . . .

I sighed again, my heart yearning for the forests around our home. I constantly found myself drawn into them, almost like I was here. But here, it was because I couldn't stand being surrounded by walls after how long I had been held captive. I felt suffocated if I was inside with nothing to do, so I started doing all of my thinking outside in the forest.

That wasn't what I was out here to do, though. I had a more important task.

I stuck both of my hands down into the snow until they were touching the bare ground. I closed my eyes and redirected my energy into my hands, letting it slowly flow out and into the ground. My energy focused itself in the ground under me, making a glowing circle of light coming from the ground with me in the middle. I lifted my head to the sky . . . and pleaded with the Mother to help us in our mission tomorrow, to help her children save one worthy of her affections . . . to save my love.


	21. Chapter 20 The Rescue

_The Rescue_

I groaned softly as my body fought to repair itself. It had been almost twenty-four hours since Felix separated my arms and legs from my body, and they had only just begun to reattach themselves. He ripped me apart as slowly as possible, apparently being turned on by my groans and roars of pain with the grin he had on his face the whole time. The sick son of a bitch bit my arms and legs repeatedly after he ripped them off, and Tanya joined him not long after. She helped him rip my limbs apart at the joints, and she made sure to tell me all about how angry and upset she was that I had refused to acknowledge our "relationship." She tried again to maul the tattoo from my skin, and only grew angrier when it kept coming back. She decided to show me what I was missing out on, straddling my lap over my shredded jeans, but screeched when I had no reaction to her grinding herself against my crotch. She slashed her nails across my face, one of her nails catching my left eye. Venom poured from the gash, and she just scoffed, dressing and leaving with Felix following her like a tail.

My body felt like it was going to fall to a pile of ash with how weak I was. My skin felt like paper, and burned with the remnants of their venom. Luckily, they left my arms and legs next to me when they were done dissecting them, so they didn't have to move very far to realign themselves. My joints had repaired themselves, but I could still see the bones, tendons, and everything else that kept them in place. None of the muscle or skin had even started healing itself yet. I was still as helpless as I had been without them, and now even more so. I could feel my eyes continue to steadily darken as I fought to regain the use of my limbs, and I knew for a fact that the whites of my eyes were turning black by this point as well.

I sighed and closed my eyes, my breath catching as a muscle reattached itself. I dozed for what felt like a few hours, my body twitching as it continued to heal. I wasn't actually sleeping, just completely relaxed as I let my body use the energy I had left to put me back together. I woke with a start some time later, feeling the hum that never left my chest grow stronger. My body grew pleasantly warm as the humming increased, and I heard what sounded like whispering by the time it got to me from so far up. Someone was outside the walls, directly over my cell, and I knew exactly who it was. A small smile appeared on my face as I stared at the ceiling across from me, where the voices were coming from.

The rescue party had arrived, and from the sound of things, _everyone_ was here.

We spent the day organizing all of our transports and fine-tuning our alternate plans. My only worry was Caleb, so we decided he would stay in the car with Esme and wait for us to return. Alice told us Edward wouldn't be able to move on his own, which made my heart hurt as a small portion of his pain made it past my mental shield. A small yelp escaped me before I was able to catch it, and I rubbed my chest lightly. Caleb looked at me worriedly and I petted his head, letting him know I was okay.

We arrived quickly outside the castle walls, the hum in my chest drawing me closer to where Edward was. My family and I jumped over the wall, along with Carlisle and Jasper, and I followed the hum to the outside of the castle. When I couldn't get any closer without going down, I stopped.

"This is it?" Jasper asked in a whisper, and I nodded once, shifting into phase two. My family followed suit as the first crack of thunder erupted overhead.

"I don't feel anything out of the ordinary yet, but I'd still do this as fast as you can," he said and I nodded again just as lightning lit up the twilight sky.

_That's the reason for the badgers, Jasper_, I said. _Remember? Fastest digging animal in the world?_ He shook his head at me and gestured towards the ground. Carlisle just stood there tensely, waiting for our next move.

My family and I started digging right up against the wall of the castle at the next sound of thunder, all of us focusing on the same spot and making quick work of the dirt with our long, sharp claws. We made it big enough for the others to fit through, and managed to get up under the bottom of the wall in only a few minutes. Each of us could feel the earth moving out of our way, moving without our help. In another minute, Dad's claw broke through the floor of the cell, and darkness waited for us as we made our way up out of the hole. Joey turned back to let Carlisle and Jasper know, and they quickly made their way behind us, a flash of lightning lighting up the tunnel.

_We need to get out of here as quickly as possible, so find him_, Charlie said as softly as he could. All of us nodded, and I shifted into a cat, using the enhanced night vision t help me look around the room. It didn't take long to find him, and when I saw his condition, I wished someone else had. I backed up a step and held back a cry, quickly getting myself together and running up to him, stopping at his side right by his hand.

The skin visible all over his body was paper thin and looked like it would fall off with even the slightest of movements. It was a sickly pallor, the ashen grey hue making me whine with worry. I wanted to touch him, to let him know I was there, but I was afraid of hurting him. He already looked like he was in a great deal of pain: his mouth was tight with it, even with the small smile peeking through, and his body was stiff as he tried to keep himself from moving. His eyes were completely black from lid to lid, not a speck of the white or gold I had come to expect present. They were deep black and lifeless, his lids half-closed and deathly still. What scared me the most was what I noticed when I looked at the tattoo on his chest. Not only was the skin still destroyed from Tanya's assault, but . . . his chest wasn't moving. I couldn't stop the whine that broke through my chest at the sight, even though I knew he didn't need to breathe to live. It was the thought that he was so weak and injured that he couldn't waste the energy to go through the motions of breathing. I knew this and kept repeating it over and over, but I couldn't help it. It was something I always associated with Edward and his family, that they took the time to act as human as possible to make everyone more comfortable around them. It was something Aro and the others couldn't be bothered with.

My father landed next to me and shifted from bat to cat, my mother and brothers following suit. They all sat around me as Carlisle and Jasper kneeled next to him examining his wounds. I heard things like _ripped apart_, _mauled_, and _blood_, but nothing made sense as I watched them work over his decrepit form. He looked like a skeleton.

"He is going to need time to heal from these wounds once we get blood into him, but here is not the place for that. We need to get out of here now, and get him fed somehow," Carlisle said, just as Jasper's head shot up. He was focusing on something above our heads, and my body filled with dread as I felt a power touch the shield around me. I looked to Jasper and he looked to Carlisle.

"We need to get out of here," he said hurriedly. "Someone found out what's going on."

_And someone's trying to affect me_, I said, turning back to the direction the power was coming from. I absorbed some of it to find out what it was, and only felt pain. I slammed my shield back down again as I tried to catch my breath, and fear passed through Jasper and Carlisle's eyes.

"Jane," they said at the same time, scrambling to gather Edward up and get him to the tunnel entrance.

He didn't make a sound as they moved him Carlisle with his torso and Jasper with his legs. Carlisle disappeared down the tunnel, and Edward was passed down to him head first to make it easier on the way up. Carlisle pulled him out and Jasper jumped down, giving us one last look but knowing he had to stick to the plan. We shifted again, reverting to one of our backup plans in case this happened. When Aro, Jane, Alec, and Felix appeared in the doorway, they were met by five snarling werewolves. All of them flinched back and shut the door, and we made a break for the tunnel. Renee, Joey, and Josh made it in and through to the other side, and I pushed my dad into it and covered the entrance as Felix crashed through the door. He had a sickening smile on his face and I snarled, snapping my jaws loudly and flattening my ears with my hackles raised. I saw fear flash across his face, but he quickly covered it up.

"Ah, it is so nice to see you again, my dear," Aro said with a smile on his face.

He stepped around Felix and walked up to me, reaching forward to grab the collar still around my neck. I snapped at his hand, my teeth just grabbing his skin as he pulled back, and he hissed. He used his other hand to catch me off guard, smacking me so hard, I flew across the room. My nails scraped the floor as I tried to stop myself from slamming into the wall as Jane, Alec, and Felix laughed. Another screeching laugh joined them as Tanya appeared and draped herself over Aro. She took his hand and licked the wound, speeding up the healing as he grabbed her ass, grinding her against his thigh. I mentally cringed in disgust and he chuckled.

"Did you know today was the day you would die, Isabella?" Aro asked, looking at Tanya's chest as she licked his neck. I didn't respond.

"Felix, grab her," he sneered, and Felix came at me.

I ducked down so he landed on my back and stood up on my back legs, sending him into the wall. He got up and went again, swinging his fists. I shot between his legs and grabbed the back of one of his knees in my jaws, yanking backwards. His knee made a sickening _pop_ before he fell on his face, his calf falling to the floor separately. He yelled loudly and I growled as Aro took a step forward, shrugging Tanya off of him.

"You forget, Isabella. You obey me," he snarled. "You will come with me without a struggle, and you will scream and cry as I use your body for my own needs before I kill you." I huffed a laugh as best I could as a wolf and sat down. If he could have, his face would have been blood red with rage.

"_You WILL obey me, you little useless bitch!_" he roared, and I just tilted my chin in defiance. Caius and Marcus appeared in the doorway and stepped behind Aro, confusion on both of their faces and amusement on Marcus's. That surprised me, but he had always been the most reasonable of the brothers. Truth be told, he acted nothing like either of them.

Aro roared again and dove for me, managing to grab my scruff before I could get away. I lifted my shield from the tunnel and tried to pry Aro's hand off of me with it, but he wouldn't let go. I bit his arm at the elbow, tearing it from his body. His hand released me as he fell back in pain, Tanya stepping away and letting him fall to the floor as she screamed in disgust. Jane and Alec came at me next, and it looked like something from television when I jumped straight up and they crashed into each other. Tanya and the other brothers were the only ones left, and Marcus looked like the last idea on his mind was trying to stop or kill me. Caius was furious as he helped Aro to his feet, the twins standing on either side of him.

"You will pay for what you have done here, _little whore_," he spat, pushing Aro to Marcus and crouching down.

_You know how many times I've heard that in the past seven years, Caius?_ I mused, looking towards the ceiling.

He snarled and I did the same in return, backing towards the tunnel. I was okay with taking one or two at once, but not all three of them, not by myself. I could feel Jane probing around my shield, and so did Alec. Twin expressions of frustration and anger appeared just as they charged, Caius following close behind. I hesitated for a moment before jumping into the tunnel, sighing in relief when the hole closed right after me. There was a resounding crash as all three of them hit the ground, and I continued through the hole as it closed after me.

I jumped up out of the hole and it sealed like nothing had happened, grass and all. Running for the wall, I heard them erupt out of the castle and run towards me, so I took to the air. I jumped as high as I could and shifted into an eagle, soaring over the outlying village and approaching the wall quickly. Out of nowhere, something slammed into me and we crashed into the wall with me in the middle. Whoever it was fell away and landed on their feet, and I landed on the ground with my wing bent at an awkward angle.

"So close, and yet so far, Isabella," Aro's voice said from behind me. I slowly got to my feet wobbling from side to side as my shattered wing threw me off balance. I glared at him and breathed deeply, trying to catch my breath after having it knocked out of me. He picked me up by my broken wing and I screamed, roughly biting his hand. He shook me and I screamed again the movement sending immense pain throughout my body.

"That is nothing compared to the pain you will feel, girl," he laughed, and I subconsciously noticed his arm was already reattached. He turned and handed me to Tanya, who wrapped her fingers tightly around my neck. She gave me a sickly sweet smile as her grip tightened, but I didn't give her the pleasure of seeing me struggle to breath.

We started back towards the castle when another crack of thunder sounded overhead. Lightning crashed down right in front of Aro, and the smell of singed hair and fiber wafted from him. He stumbled back a step and looked down at the scorch mark only inches from his feet. Tanya gasped and crushed me to her chest, effectively forgetting I was still in her grasp and almost suffocating me. Aro was about to say something when thunder sounded again, followed almost immediately by another bolt of lightning. This time, the bolt struck Felix in the head, lighting him up like a torch. When the bolt dissipated, only a pile of ash remained.

"What is going on?" Aro yelled, looking around the group and the members of the guard running to his side. Everyone stayed silent in confusion until Tanya's wail broke the silence. She lifted me from between her monstrous breasts and I gasped in as much air as I could before he tightened her grip once more.

"You're doing this, aren't you? You want us dead so you can have Edward all to yourself without any threats to your _little piece of heaven_!" she sneered, shaking me roughly. I mentally groaned in pain, distantly hearing someone approaching at high speed. Their gait sounded strange though, like it was uneven . . . like they were limping.

"I'm going to kill you, you little fucking piece of shit!" she screamed, grabbing my wing in her free hand and starting to slowly straighten it. She kept going past the point where it was fully extended, making the joint at my shoulder strain.

She flinched at the next crack of thunder and looked up just as lightning struck down, hitting her right between the eyes. The pure energy surged through her body and travelled into me from her hand. My vision erupted with light and nothing else, my ears not even able to ring from the noise. I felt Tanya's hand falling to ash around me, and someone screaming my name as my head tilted up towards the sky. My mouth dropped open as my body began absorbing the energy and shifting back into my human form.

The shattered bones in my arm immediately healed, snapping back into place as Tanya fell apart, her scream still echoing as the light disappeared and my body fell to its knees, humming with the power it just absorbed. I, on the other hand, looked on from above like an apparition, where the lightning had held me when it struck. I looked on as my body got to its feet, little bolts of electricity travelling over my skin and hair. My tattoos appeared on my skin, framing my eyes in the swirls, loops, and vines I had come to miss. I could see the heart that usually adorned the side of my neck, and what appeared to be a half-bloomed rose peaking up from under my shirt collar, not something I remembered having. My eyes were bright white as the energy showed through, the energy the Mother gave off as she inhabited my body. I turned to face Alec and Jane and could feel them attack my body with everything they had, but I was unaffected. Walking towards them, my arm raised itself and pointed at her, sending a bolt straight into her heart and instantly bursting her body into flames. She screamed as she collapsed to the ground, and her brother did the same, wrapping himself around her in an attempt to snuff out the fire. In turn, the fire transferred itself to him as soon as nothing of her was left to be burned. He met the same fate as my body slowly turned to Caius.

He growled and bared his teeth, but the fear was obvious on his face as She approached him. He stood there, frozen in place, as She wrapped my hand around his throat, providing direct contact for the current to pass into his body. He twitched uncontrollably as the electricity passed into him, and She whispered in his ear.

"_You are a selfish, greedy being, vampire. Unnatural and cruel. You feed off a species you see as inferior, a species you were once a member of, but that ends today_."

Her voice sounded so deep, so vast, that it captured my attention as soon as the first sound left my mouth. It was like the wind rustling the leaves of a large oak, waves crashing into the side of a cliff, rain tapping a rhythm against the solid earth . . . the breath of every living being on the planet inhaling and exhaling in sync, every heart beating as one. But as Caius crumbled in Her grasp and She turned to Aro, it was anything but. Erupting volcanoes, angry thunder, roaring seas, raging windstorms . . . everything the exact opposite of what it had been.

"_You . . . you have done the same and more. You have disrespected your own race, as well as the race you originate from. You are sadistic and arrogant. You care for nothing and no one unless it benefits you in some way. You are a collector of beings, beings that were never meant to be collected. Humans treat zoo animals better than you treat your captives. You surround yourself with power and claim it to be yours, not its true possessor's. You take things that are not yours, vampire, but that is not the worst of your crimes_." The sky darkened with Her anger, lighting only with the flashes of lightning across the sky. She looked up to where I was still floating, and I felt myself moving down closer to her. She then looked to Her right, and I followed Her gaze when I finally stopped at Her side.

Edward was standing just ten feet away, his dim, black eyes lifelessly watching the scene. He was looking at my body, but there was no emotion on his face. His arms hung limply at his sides, his knees bent and tense as he tried to stay on his feet. Even his hair was dull and lifeless, flopping down into his eyes. I could see the others standing farther behind him, watching everything warily and not sure of what they should do.

She raised a hand in his direction, palm up, and he slowly shuffled forward. Each step was more of a struggle than the last, and by the time he reached Her, I could see his knees giving out. She took his hand and steadied him before handing him over to me. I took his hand tentatively, his state still scaring me into thinking he would fall apart right before my eyes. His eyes lit up for a moment at the contact, and he slowly turned his head towards me.

"Bella . . ." his rough voice whispered, like rocks grinding together. It was nothing like the soft velvet it used to be, and my heart constricted with the knowledge. I gave him a small, sad smile and nodded, bringing my other hand up to cup his cheek. He leaned heavily into me and closed his eyes, and I was surprised when he didn't fall right through my . . . ghost form, or whatever I was.

His body was starting to fail again, whatever energy he found to get himself back to me finally running out. I gently lowered him to the ground, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him to my chest. I laid my head on top of his, a small tear falling from my eye.

"_You . . . You did this . . . You made this sadness, this heartbreak_," the Mother continued, still using my body as a vessel. Her anger increased with every word, and even I flinched when She continued.

"_You tried to keep my children prisoner, vampire, and I do not take that lightly. What is more, you kept this young one as a toy to do with as you please. I started believing nothing could be worse than the way humans treat each other, constantly attacking and killing those just like them, but you . . . You treated this girl worse than I have ever seen, and then demanded her obedience, using one of the qualities I used to keep her safe as a way to keep her trapped. By imprisoning this family as you did, you essentially trapped me inside the walls of your castle, and that I will not stand. You will die today, and I can only hope I do not need to save more of my children from others such as you_." My hand shot out around Aro's throat, and he screamed until he was a pile of ash at her feet. The image of his face, his mouth wide as his agony found a voice, was burned into my mind even after he was no more, and only Edward's weight against my body kept me from completely losing myself with everything that had just happened.

She turned slowly to Marcus, who looked at his brothers' ashes with regret, but no sadness. When he felt her gaze, he looked up with a sad accepting smile. He raised his arms and spread his fingers, giving in to his fate . . . but She did nothing against him. Instead She slowly walked up to him and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"_You have lived in the shadows of your brothers and their decisions. I do not see in you what I did in them, so I will spare you. You will be the new ruler of your people, but choose your methods wisely. You have seen what did not work. Learn from their mistakes in the hopes of making a better world for you and yours. But be warned, Marcus. I will be watching. You are not free of my wrath until I know you have learned the lesson your brothers shunned_." He bowed his head and placed his right fist over his heart in respect, and she gave him a slightly brighter smile.

The Mother turned to where Edward and I were sitting, my face soft and sad with Her emotion. She kneeled down next to me, and placed Her hand on the crown of Edward's head. She looked at me with a sad smile, my eyes still white with pure power. When She spoke, I realized my mouth didn't open.

"_I am sorry for what you have had to suffer through these past few years_," She said to me, and I just gave a smile in return before She turned back to Edward. "_I can heal his wounds, but I cannot give him what he needs to heal and live again. That, my dearest child, is up to you._" I knew what she was talking about and nodded my understanding. She could use Her power to heal his body, but She couldn't give him the energy to revive him from his comatose state; only blood could do that.

She nodded back and moved Her hand to Edward's forehead. He began to glow as energy moved from my body to his, the wounds covering his body instantly disappearing. In just one minute, he looked just like he did before he got me out, except for his pallor and lifelessness. She leaned back and dropped my hand from his head, giving me a slightly happier smile.

"_You two . . . you will be very happy together once everything settles. I know you have many questions, even if you do not yet know what they are yourself. But when you do, you will know how to find me, and your answers_." She placed Her hand over the fox head on Edward's chest, and Her other over the same spot on mine, the same spot I saw the rose peeking out from. There was a small jolt from her touch and another crack of thunder, and I suddenly found myself looking at nothing but the castle walls and the full moon shining brightly in a cloudless night sky.

She was gone.


	22. Chapter 21 A Sacrifice

_A Sacrifice_

The light of the full moon showed the way as we ran with Edward to the Cullens' manor only miles away. Marcus had offered us shelter, but understood when I not-so-politely declined. Carlisle said they hadn't stayed there earlier since it was easier to meet with the brothers if they were in the same building, and they did not want to offend. I knew he had good intentions, but I couldn't voluntarily step foot in that place without a damned good reason. That good reason was being set on one of the four-poster beds in the upper rooms of the enormous home, _not_ in that god-forsaken castle, as I paced back and forth in front of the balcony window.

Flashes of Aro and Felix appeared in my mind, and I tried to shake them away as the walls around me felt like they were slowly closing in, even though I consciously knew they weren't. I could feel bursts of pain all over my body, and tried to keep my face clear as I continued to walk, tried to keep the walls away, but I knew it was useless. Jasper was watching me intently, and I could feel him probing my shield with his empathy. I acted like I didn't see or feel him as I focused on pushing the progressing images away, but nothing happened. I watched as I was beaten and raped over and over by them, each incident appearing and feeling as though it were happening at that very moment. I finally stopped and pulled the balcony doors open, stepping out into the full moon's light and breathing deeply of the crisp night air. I inhaled until it hurt and held it, letting the soft breeze caress my skin and run through my hair. When the images finally faded from my mind, I exhaled and slowly turned around, my panic seemingly gone.

"He needs blood," Carlisle said, pointing out the obvious in order to distract everyone from what just happened. "It is going to be days until he is up and well again, and he will need to feed quite often to get there. I have to say though, that amount has been greatly diminished since all of his wounds were healed." All of us looked out to the balcony at this, and a soft breeze rustled the dying October leaves of the tree outside. It was only a few days before Halloween, and the past few weeks seemed to fly by in a pain-filled blur.

"I'll do it," I whispered without thought, walking over and brushing Edward's hair from his eyes. His body seemed to visibly relax at the contact as both his family and mine tensed at my words. Before they could say anything, I decided to explain.

"I know it seems strange, especially when there are so many animals around we could use to get him back, but . . ." I hesitated, unsure how to word what I was feeling. Jasper decided to help.

"It feels right, like it's the thing to do. You don't know why, but you can feel it's our best option," he said softly, understandingly, and I nodded, happy he wasn't bringing up what I had been feeling only moments before.

"Yeah . . . I can see why, _feel_ why . . . but I can't _say_ why," I murmured in frustration. Carlisle put his hand to his chin in thought.

"Now that I am thinking about it . . . it would make sense," he mused. "Going completely on assumption, and ignoring whatever affects your bond could have on his progress when coupled with your blood in his system . . . it is not a bad idea. You are both human and animal, so it can be assumed that it would have the potency of human blood but the lessened attraction of animal blood. It is dangerous, of course, since he is so depleted. He is going to latch on and not want to let go, Bella." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I know, but it's okay. Loss of blood won't kill me, Carlisle," I responded, and he shook his head. "Besides, I don't think he would go that far, even in the state he's in."

"You do realize you'll be knocked out for a day or two, don't you, Bells?" my dad asked, and I nodded once looking up at each of them. He turned to Carlisle abruptly, a question on his face.

"I just thought of something, Carlisle . . . If he's truly as depleted as you say, why hasn't he attacked any of us?" he asked, gesturing to our family. "We've got beating hearts and blood pumping in us, so what's stopping him?"

"He is so depleted, he does not have the energy to hunt for himself," Carlisle responded with a sad smile. "His body lacks the energy to satisfy even its most primal need. He is not because he _cannot_." He looked back down at his son with what could only have been the ghost of tears in his anguished golden eyes, and I felt my heart hurt for him. I brought us back to the situation at hand, trying to get to when I would ease that pain by giving my own life source to save Edward.

"I'll need someone to watch Caleb until I wake up again. His human attributes are starting to come through, so sometime next week he should start trying to shift on his own. I wanted to shift him myself a few times first, just to get him used to the feeling, but I'll leave that up to whoever takes care of him for now." My mom shook her head at my stubbornness and picked Caleb up from his position next to me at Edward's side. He whined once and tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but I stood and cupped his little face in my hands.

"It's okay, baby. Edward and mommy-" I started, but he stopped me.

_Daddy_, he said softly. I looked down at him for a moment before giving him a small smile and nodding enthusiastically.

"Daddy . . ." I repeated, before getting my thoughts together again. "Daddy and I are going to be asleep for a little while, but we'll be okay. Daddy should wake up and be okay again, and you can play with him again. Maybe he'll play music, too. Would you like that?" I asked, and he nodded once, liking my chin. I kissed his nose and forehead before taking a step back. "You just have to be good for Grandma, okay?" He nodded again, and my mom giggled, hugging him to her chest. She and Esme left the room to feed him, and I sat back down next to Edward.

"How do you want to do this, Bells?" Charlie asked, and I shrugged.

"What's the easiest way to get a thirsty vampire to drink blood from you until you pass out?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. Charlie glared half-heartedly, and Carlisle shook his head. Emmett and Jasper, as well as my brothers, tried to hold in a chuckle.

"Damn, I missed her," Josh mumbled, and Joey nodded.

"Before I do this, though, I need to know something," I said, slowly running my hand through Edward's hair. I didn't hear anything, so I continued. "What is going to happen with the Denalis now that Tanya's gone?" No one answered for a moment, but then Carlisle sighed.

"Kate and Irina were devastated, but they understood. For Nature herself to strike down Tanya for the way she lived and the person she was, they knew they could not deny the truth. Eleazar and Carmen were just as upset over losing a member of the family, but they had warned Tanya for many, many years about what she was doing. Right now, Kate and Irina are somewhere in Russia. They took off after they learned of today's events. Eleazar and Carmen remained in the castle with Marcus to help him get everything in order," he explained, and I nodded once.

"I'm not sorry she's dead," I growled, softly running my hand down the side of Edward's face. I smoothed the crease in his brow, feeling my anger bubble deep within me, and sighed in an attempt to calm myself.

"And neither are we, even though she was considered part of this family at one point," he responded, and I closed my eyes.

"Okay, now that I know, let's do this," I said, straightening my back and opening my eyes again. Carlisle shifted until he was standing next to me, and he lifted my legs onto the bed next to Edward.

"Shift onto your side and lean against him. You won't fall off the bed that way," he suggested, and I did as he said. I then moved myself until my head was leaning against his, and my arm was draped across his chest, right under his chin. I lifted his head and placed my other arm under it so I could run my fingers through his hair.

"Now what?" I asked softly, and he held in a sigh.

"Now, if you are ready, you just need to draw a small, shallow line into your skin, just enough for a small amount of blood to surface. Place the line against his mouth, and he should take over from there," he explained, and I nodded once. Everyone but Jasper left us alone, and I sighed softly, running my hand gently through his hair.

"What are you going to do, Bella?" he asked softly, and I shrugged a shoulder.

"I have no idea, but my brothers were right; I needed that run," I responded, feeling the walls waver in their places and my heartbeat do the same. I tensed and closed my eyes tightly, burying my face in Edward's hair. I breathed deeply and his scent almost instantly calmed me, my heart slowing back to its normal rhythm.

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it," he said, and I waited for him to continue. When he did, he was very hesitant.

"I think . . . once you wake up, you should go," he said, and I gasped, turning abruptly to face him. He held up his hands and continued before I could comment.

"I don't mean permanently, just long enough for you to get your bearings about you again. You've been held captive for _seven years_, Bella, and I know for a fact that you didn't spend all day in a building before then. I think, now that you are finally free, you need to _feel_ free. You panic when you're inside because it's not where you want to be, and you know it. They restricted you to the point of chaining your animal forms, you _wild animal_ forms, and now they want out." He paused and gave me an understanding smile when I didn't attack him, or whatever it was he thought I would do.

"When you wake, you should go, go be who you haven't been able to for so long. And when you return, he will be waiting. I can feel what you're feeling, Bella, and you are feeling trapped. Edward will understand, and he will count the seconds until you return to him. All of us will care for him while you are gone. Just think about it. The decision is up to you." I nodded and he gave me another smile before stepping out and closing the door behind him. I looked back down at Edward and sighed softly, preparing myself for what I was about to do.

I placed the nail of my index finger against my opposite wrist and pressed deeply, feeling it slide through my skin. I held in a hiss of pain and dragged my nail across my skin, watching with a detached fascination as a small red line slowly appeared. I took my finger away and put my hand to Edward's forehead, putting my bleeding wrist to his cracked lips. The drops fell from my skin into his mouth, but he didn't move.

I reached around and squeezed my wrist, attempting to force more blood into him, and fought a smile when I felt another few drops fall. His mouth finally twitched against my skin, and I felt his fangs slowly extend. When they finally stopped moving, I maneuvered my wrist so my cut was against his fangs, but he didn't bite. It was like he only had enough energy to release his fangs, but not to bite. I placed my lips on top of his head and grabbed my other hand, pulling swiftly so they punctured my skin.

I gasped loudly as they sank deep into my flesh, blood running freely into Edward's mouth. His mouth closed over my wrist and he gave a short, shallow pull. He swallowed and pulled again, stronger this time, and I laid my head down. The feel of my blood rushing from my body made my head spin, and it only got worse as he continued. I put my hand to his forehead and sighed softly. A sharp pain radiated from my wrist and up my arm, shooting straight to my heart, and I knew I was almost drained already. Black spots appeared in front of my eyes as I listened to the light _pat pat_ of a fresh rain beginning to fall, just laying there as I felt the life drain from my body and into my love.

Bella . . . Bella. Bella, Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella.

She was the only thing I saw in my mind, the only thing I could think of after the blackness took me just outside Volterra. I smelled nothing, tasted nothing, _heard_ nothing . . . but I saw and felt her. I had no idea how long I had been out, nor what happened afterwards, and she was the only thing keeping me from letting the darkness take me. I didn't know what would happen if I did, but I didn't want to. Her name was like a heartbeat . . ._ bel-la, bel-la_ . . . the only thing keeping me alive.

The most prominent of the images was of Bella's . . . ghost, I guess. I watched her body destroy Felix, Tanya, Caius, and Aro as a semi-transparent Bella floated close by. I stood there, physically unable to take another step and mentally unsure of what was going on, but a rush of heat flew through my body when the tangible Bella beckoned me. Things got spotty after that, but I remembered the phantom Bella letting me lean against her, embracing my broken body. I clung to that as my lifeline, feeling her arms wrapped around me again.

I hadn't been able to feel anything after Bella's other form placed her hand on my forehead, and I had no idea where—or _when_—I was now. What I did know was that Bella was close by; the strong humming of our bond told me that. We still didn't know exactly what it meant for us, for our future, but it was all I needed.

Some time later, I suddenly felt like I was shot through with pure electricity, the blackness turning a deep scarlet red. Bella's face melted into the redness, and her arms warmed around me. I could feel her skin against my mouth, my taste buds exploding with the warm, liquid honey running from her and into me. I tried to grab her arm, tried to pull her away before I couldn't stop myself . . . but that fight was over before it began. Instead of pulling her away, my body only drew her wrist closer, biting deeper into her soft flesh with my fangs. Her blood ran faster as I mentally tried to draw my mouth from her body, tried to stop myself from killing her, but my own body fought with everything it had and won. The flow slowed not long after, lessening to only drops with every pull I made from her veins.

I was openly sobbing when I felt her wrist fall from my mouth, landing on my chest with a soft thud. My skin felt electrified with the energy I had just drained from her. I could feel her laying half on top of me with a hand in my hair, and I was laying on something I could only assume was a bed. I could smell strawberries, freesias, salt, crisp night air . . . and blood. Every scent was tainted by blood. I could feel moisture on my cheeks, feel something moving from the corners of my eyes and down my face. My chest heaved with the now-unfamiliar feeling of breathing, my panic at what I had just done hitting me so hard as to almost send me out of my catatonic state.

A wave of calm and serenity abruptly slammed into me, and my body instantly melted into the mattress. _Jasper_. I knew he was there, but I couldn't acknowledge that fact in any way. He felt what I wanted to do and sighed softly in response. Bella's body moved and I flinched, trying to find my limbs again to keep her where she was. He reassured me with another softer wave, and I settled hesitantly. He lifted my arm and placed Bella next to me, draping my arm over her and hers across my torso. I didn't smell the blood anymore and guessed he had quickly cleaned her wound to help me stay calm.

"Rest now, brother," he said softly. "She gave you what you needed to return to her, so use it. All of us await your return, so don't keep us waiting too long." He squeezed the shoulder Bella's head wasn't resting on and walked out, leaving me to fall back into the abyss again. Only this time, I wasn't exactly alone.

The blackness turned to white, the nothing into something, and that something was . . . amazing. The valley was covered in long grass, low hills around the edges shaping the clearing into that of a bowl. The night sky shone above it, the blackness littered with bright stars. The glow of the full moon illuminated the only being in the field. A single weeping willow stood in the center, the grasses shortening the closer they were to it, as though the blades were bowing. Its branches caressed the ground under it like a lover's gentle touch, brushing back and forth with a breeze only it could feel. The tree was completely white, a stark contrast to the grey scale of color surrounding it.

Something moved from behind the sweeping canopy, and I took a step forward, trying to see what it was. I felt like if I moved too much or too fast, the entire scene around me would disappear. I saw the flash of movement again, and it looked like an animal. There was no particular shape or color about it, leaving me utterly clueless to what I was about to encounter. Slowly, carefully, I walked towards the tree. The blades of grass touched my hands as I walked, as though indentifying who it was that dared impose on their serenity.

When I finally reached the curtain of leaves and vines separating me from the being, I stopped. I felt no breeze, no gentle wind, and yet, the branches still swayed to their own rhythm. I reached forward, the soft leaves caressing my skin with a feather-light touch as I gently moved them aside just enough so that I could fit through.

Underneath the cover of the monstrous tree, to my surprise, was a cloud of fireflies. Their white lights shone from the very top of the tree all the way to the ground, the little bugs slowly flying about in the shadowed space. It seemed like a reflection of the sky on the other side of the tree's curtain of branches. The ground was covered in a carpet of short grass with small white and grey wildflowers dotting the ground. The trunk of the tree was as pure white as its branches and leaves, but with light grey marks where the bark sunk on slightly with its texture. I could hear the soft sound of falling water and took a few steps to the side to see a small pool being fed by a stream flowing in from outside the willow's shade, the small drop from the stream to the pool creating the soft, relaxing noise that caught my attention.

A small white creature moved at the very top of the tree, the form resembling that of an owl, but only for a moment before I was looking at a small monkey of some sort. As it jumped down from limb to limb, its form constantly changed. By the time it touched the ground, I was facing a large leopard. It's body was lean and graceful, the muscle underneath rippling with every movement. The beast, like the rest of the world, was not its normal colors; the coat was a simple grey color, and the spots were either darker grey or black. Its cat eyes were bright as it looked intently at me, an intelligence shining through like nothing I had ever seen. They were also the only color in the entire place . . . a bright green, like what the grass should have been. It laid down and gestured to the ground at my feet, like it wanted me to do the same, so I did. What happened next would have shocked me, if I hadn't been in that state already.

"_Hello, Edward Cullen. I was wondering when I was going to see you_."


	23. Chapter 22 Mother

_Mother_

_A small white creature moved at the very top of the tree, the form resembling that of an owl, but only for a moment before I was looking at a small monkey of some sort. As it jumped down from limb to limb, its form constantly changed. By the time it touched the ground, I was facing a large leopard. It's body was lean and graceful, the muscle underneath rippling with every movement. The beast, like the rest of the world, was not its normal colors; the coat was a simple grey color, and the spots were either darker grey or black. Its cat eyes were bright as it looked intently at me, an intelligence shining through like nothing I had ever seen. They were also the only color in the entire place . . . a bright green, like what the grass should have been. It laid down and gestured to the ground at my feet, like it wanted me to do the same, so I did. What happened next would have shocked me, if I hadn't been in that state already._

"_Hello, Edward Cullen. I was wondering when I was going to see you."_

I had no idea how to respond, so I sat there staring like an idiot. The female voice spoke again, the sound brushing against my mind as the form smoothly shifted, never landing on a specific animal again.

"_I see you do not remember much of what happened before you lost consciousness_," she said, and I shook my head slowly.

"I . . . I really don't . . . sorry," I mumbled, and she gave a breathy laugh.

"_There is nothing to apologize for, Edward. I can show you what occurred in your absence_," she said, and walked forward. She sat down at my side and placed what was a paw at the time over my hand, a small shock travelling from her skin into mine. I instantly saw and remembered everything that happened after I finally got back to Bella, and I gasped quietly, glancing hesitantly at the being sitting next to me, the embodiment of nature herself.

"_Yes, Edward, I suppose that is exactly what I am. My children refer to me as Mother, though. It is simpler_," she said, obviously amused. I started as she read my thoughts, and she laughed again, my mind spinning with the sound.

"_I can only read your thoughts through your bond with Isabella, Edward. It is . . . a strange connection, to say the least. None of my children have ever fallen for one of the undead_." She was thoughtful as she looked towards the canopy, and I couldn't help but feel slightly worried about her reaction. She seemed to be able to tell what I was feeling too, and sighed.

"_You have nothing to fear from me, Edward. I see your bond to her, and it would be against my nature to break something so sacred. No, you and Isabella are bonded, and that is the way you will stay. Your connection will be . . . more than the average, and that is why you are here_." She looked straight into my eyes and I felt like I could fall forever into their depths. There appeared to be no end to what was there, every aspect of the Earth and more present in her eyes.

"_My goal was to explain to you what is going to happen, now that you are bonded to a shifter. I know of your kind, your powers, abilities . . . limitations, and I want you to be informed about how they may or may not be affected. Of course, you have the choice of refusing and just learning as you go_," she said, tilting her head and waiting for my answer. I nodded once for her to continue, and she nodded in acknowledgement.

"_I am sure you and Isabella have many questions concerning what is in store for the two of you, with one of the living and one of the undead. I can assure you that it will be very similar to the relationships you see between her parents and your own. You will love completely and unconditionally, but you may have your problems every now and then. It would be unnatural for you not to_," she added, seemingly as an afterthought.

"_Isabella will be able to have children by you, Edward. What you do with that information is completely up to you, but you are in incubus. Had you indulged yourself like other members of your race do, you may have discovered your condition. Because of Bella's ability to shift and change, unlike a vampire, she would be able to complete a pregnancy. Your children would be hybrids, essentially the best of both worlds. Immortality, shifting, enhanced senses, invincibility . . . all without the bloodlust that scared your family and drove you into the lifestyle you now live. A lifestyle, I willingly admit, I have long respected since your father began it._" She paused again, mulling something over as I just sat there and watched, dumbfounded by the information I was receiving. She began again before I could properly think through everything, her shifting face sentimental.

"_I understand the immensity of this information, but there is one last thing I would like your opinion on, something I would like to leave up to both you and Isabella, but she is otherwise occupied at the moment_." My hand flew to my heart as a sharp pain spiked, making me lose my breath. The feeling of Bella's hand as it fell lifelessly to my chest repeated like a broken record until my skin began to burn with the contact.

"_Edward . . . she is not dead_," she said, drawing my attention from my pain to her face. I looked at her with utter disbelief, and she gave me what I could only assume was a sad smile.

"_Yes, her body has shut down to the point of death . . . but she is not. Her gradual death allowed her body to begin the healing process before she shut down. She will actually awake before you will_," she said reassuringly. I didn't want to believe it, but I could feel hope quickly, uncontrollably growing in my chest.

"_She is alive_," she said again, and I could have burst into tears. "_She knew she would not die, and so was willing to give her blood to bring you back to her. Your brother attempted to explain this to you earlier, but you were still slightly delusional and falling back into unconsciousness_," she explained. I faintly remembered that and nodded slowly, my mind still spinning with the thought of what she had done for me.

"_I can give her the ability to change anyone she bonds to_," she said, bringing me back to the present conversation. "_She will be able to shift the form of anyone she has bonded positively with, but only if you want her to_."

"Wouldn't that be draining for her though?" I asked, feeling slightly bolder, and she shook her head.

"_No, the bond would sustain any changes she made to your appearance. The initial shift itself would take some energy on her part_," she explained, and I nodded slowly.

"I don't know if she would want this, though," I mumbled, looking down at my lap. "I don't want to make a decision for her, then have her angry about it."

"_If the ability becomes too much of a burden for her, she can always come to me about it. It is my way of trying to make your lives together somewhat easier. It would also open all of you up to mental communication through your bonds_," she added, as though she were thinking of this as an afterthought. I thought about it for a moment before looking up and nodding once.

"Okay, and if she doesn't want it . . . you will take it away for her?" I asked, and she nodded. "Then . . . then give it to her," I whispered, and she nodded again, standing up and shaking herself. She raised her head to the sky and howled. A bright white light shot straight up, disappearing in the limbs of the tree, and she sat back down. Her shifting face was serious when she looked back at me, and she tilted her head.

"_She is going to need you, Edward. More so than you may realize_," she said, looking out towards the field surrounding us.

"I know she's been through a lot . . . more than I can ever imagine or understand . . . but I'm willing to help her through it in any way I can, whether it's letting her rant, scream, and rage, listening to her talk, being a distraction, or just being there and not saying anything. I want to be the person she comes to," I whispered, feeling the truth in my words ring around us. I couldn't be sure with her shifting form, but I could have sworn she smiled.

"_I have a very strong feeling you will be, but the road to that place may be somewhat rough. I am sure you know she will try to carry this burden on her own, so you will have to show her how much you want to help, how much easier it will be for her if she lets you help her, show her you can handle helping her_." She paused, still looking out at the colorless field. She seemed . . . distant . . . as though she were deciding whether or not to mention something. I waited quietly, just watching her, and she finally decided.

"_Do you know where we are, Edward_?" she asked, and I shook my head. "_This, my son, is where Isabella comes when she wants to get away or needs to speak to me_," she sighed softly, sadly, before she continued.

"_She has a beautiful imagination . . . so colorful and carefree . . . so full of life . . . but no longer. Her time in captivity . . . damaged her. She made this place as her sanctuary, but now everything is gone_," she explained quietly, and I felt my heart contract in pain. I put my hand over my heart, trying to ease the throb.

"_That is Isabella's pain, Edward. You feel it because you are here, where her pain is coming from. The more this place deteriorates, the more pain she will be in_."

"Wha- . . . What can I do?" I huffed, unable to catch a breath to talk properly.

"_She was never meant for a life inside walls, Edward, especially if it was not her choice. You need to give her the time she needs to feel right again, for her to see it will not happen again. Your love and her freedom will bring life back to this world, but only with time_." She turned to me slowly, that same sad smile on her face.

"_This place almost died before you came, Edward. The grass and tree were dead, the pool dried up, and the sky was black. The bones of the animals that lived here were scattered. Now, though, everything is healing. These little fireflies are proof of that_," she said, gesturing around us. "_Even Isabella's forms have started making appearances. Her animal forms live here while she is human_." Just as she said that, the ghostly form of a small wolf prowled through the long grass. I felt a burst of hope at the sight, but it was quickly smashed when I saw the beast's face.

It looked like any normal wolf, with a strong, lean body and sloping back leading to the hips. Its coat was somewhat rough-looking, and it looked like it was having a hard time breathing. Its mouth was slightly open as it tried to suck in a breath, and its eyes . . . Its eyes were completely blank of any color or emotion, the entire surface completely black. Its head was drooping until the chin was almost touching the ground, but it faded away before I could even think to take a step towards it. I turned to her and then back towards where the wolf had been, seeing a small fox in the same condition. Once again, it faded before I could do anything.

"_You could not do anything anyway, young one, so please do not feel bad_," she whispered, and I gave her a half smile.

"That's not a name I'm used to hearing," I chuckled, and she gave me a motherly smile.

"_All of you are young to me, Edward Cullen. Your years and experience may be great, but you are still quite young. Your whole family is, both in years and in spirit_," she said lightly, and I laughed, immediately thinking of my siblings and their antics. She laughed right along with me, but I sobered quickly, my mind wandering back to the conversation at hand.

"But . . . I know," I responded, answering her question. "It still feels like I should be able to do _something_." I shook my head and sat back down against the trunk of the tree, my knees up and my arms resting on them. She sat next to me, but did not lay down like she had before.

"_These are not the beings that need your help, Edward. By helping Isabella, you will be helping them. And speaking of Isabella, you are starting to wake up, Edward. It is time for you to return to the world of the living . . . or the undead, as the case may be_," she said, and I chuckled. She put a paw on my shoulder and continued, keeping a leopard form as she spoke.

"_When you return, Edward, I want you to be prepared for what you will find . . . and what you do not_," she said softly, and I listened intently. "_Your family has been slowly moving with you across Europe. Right now, they are in Spain with you, about to leave for America. Isabella's family is there with them, and so is young Caleb. They are all very happy to have you back and safe with them, but they are also sad. Isabella will not be there when you awaken, Edward. She woke from her recovery and waited for you to wake up, but she could not handle being inside anymore. Both your family and hers know why she left, and now that you have seen this place and spoken with me, so do you. She is trying to heal from her confinement._"

"So . . . she left?" I whispered, and she nodded once.

"_Being away from society will heal the wounds left from her time in the hands of the vampires of Volterra, Edward. It is not because she did not care to see you awaken. She had every intention of doing so, but her body and mind could not endure any longer. When you awaken, ask your family to remember her leaving to give you an idea of what I mean_." I nodded and wrapped my arms around my body, jumping when I felt myself starting to disappear. I looked at her frantically and she just gave me a smile.

"_Return to your world, my son, and know this: if you ever need me, you will know how to find me. You may not be one of my creations, but you and your family are just as much my children_." I nodded, and she pressed her snout to my cheek as I felt myself sucked away from the depressing meadow scene.

I awoke with a gasp, and was immediately assaulted by both minds and bodies. I fumbled trying to block the barrage of thoughts, instantly getting a headache and putting the heel of my free hand to my forehead. Everyone in the room suddenly noticed the gesture and calmed themselves, partially with Jasper's help, but the four bodies on top of me did not move. I could feel one fuzzy body amongst them, to the side of me, and turned my head to find little Caleb trying to bury himself in my side. I was shirtless, so the effort was a lost cause. I lifted him from next to me and he dove for my face, laying on the pillow next to me and licking all over my face.

"Easy, kid," Emmett said, scooping him up and holding him in one arm. "Let's see how Pops is before we attack him anymore, okay?" Caleb nodded enthusiastically and stared down at me. Emmett asked me his real question mentally, turning his body so Caleb was farther away.

_How's the bloodlust, brother?_ He asked, and I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head.

"There's nothing more than normal," I whispered in response, my voice raspy with lack of use. I heard the girls still on me all sigh in relief. I looked to Jasper, who was looking at me emotions closely for a subtle sign of hunger, and he shook his head slowly.

"Your eyes are dark, but not black," Carlisle said, thinking out loud. "I guess my assumption was correct," he mumbled to himself. I ignored his comment as Esme attacked my face, checking me over and kissing me at the same time.

"Oh, my baby boy," she cried over and over, and I didn't have the heart to push her away. Rose and Alice just laid there, and I could see Alice running through the scenarios she saw before the rescue . . . the ones where I didn't make it. Rose was remembering the events before her change, ones that left her in no better condition than I was when they found me. I wiggled my arm out from under them and wrapped it around them, squeezing them to me.

"Please . . . don't do that," I whispered to them, my voice breaking in sadness. "I chose to do what I did, so please . . . don't dwell on what could have happened. And Rose . . . I know this brings back memories, but the same goes for you. Don't dwell on the past." My throat started hurting from dryness, and I held in a cough. Esme immediately shot up and looked down at me.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked and I nodded.

"No burning . . . just dry," I answered, trying to fight the cough that wouldn't leave me alone. Alice and Rose sat up as well, and my brothers took them away for a moment to comfort them, Emmett depositing Caleb on the bed. He ran over and flopped down against my side, his chin resting on my shoulder as his eyes watched me with his tail wagging happily behind him. I gave him a small smile as I tried to catch my breath, finally letting the cough loose. I could see worry in his eyes as he listened to my breathing, and I petted his head gently to calm him.

"I think we should take you hunting, Edward," Carlisle said softly as Esme wrapped herself around him. "You might not feel the burn, Edward, but from what I am hearing, you need blood."

"Why don't I feel it then?" I asked, and he tilted his head in thought.

"My guess would be Bella's blood. It only took you one feeding to reawaken, and your eyes are not black like they should be, so I can only imagine this is another side effect of feeding from a shifter who happens to be your mate," he explained, and it was as good an explanation as any. I didn't argue or question further, instead laying back and closing my eyes with a soft sigh. I felt Caleb shift his body next to me and turned my head towards him, but left my eyes closed. His snout was right under my chin, and he sighed sadly.

_Mommy gone, Daddy_, he whispered in my mind, and I nodded, opening my eyes tiredly.

"I know, Caleb, but she's coming back," I assured him, and he sighed again.

"She was having a breakdown, Edward," Jasper said, coming back in with Alice in tow. "She would lay with you for a few minutes, but by the next, she was up pacing and mumbling to herself, constantly looking outside and resisting the urge to go outside, even for just a moment. I could feel it building within her, Edward. It wouldn't have been right to stop her," he explained, and I shook my head free of the painful images he had shown me.

"You don't have to explain it to me, Jasper. I completely understand," I said rather vaguely. I wasn't sure if I wanted to share what had happened while I was unconscious with anyone but Bella, so I kept silent about it. All of them let me know they knew I was hiding something, even Rosalie and Emmett in the next room, but they left me alone about it.

_Mommy come back soon?_ Caleb asked, bringing me back from my thoughts. I gently petted his head again.

"I don't know, kid. I know mommy's coming back, but I don't know when." He flattened his ears in misery, and I raised his chin so he was looking at me. "Will you wait for her with me, Caleb?" I asked, and he nodded, looking slightly happier.

_You no leave? Go find mommy?_ he asked, and I shook my head.

"No, I'm going to stay here with you. Someone needs to make sure you and your uncles don't get in trouble," I said, ruffling the hair on his head. "Besides, that silly mommy of yours will come back when she's better."

_Mommy sick? Go away to get better?_

"Yeah, in a way. She got sick from being in that bad place, the place we brought you when we found you in the woods_,_" I answered, and he blinked in response.

_Outside make mommy better_, he said, and I nodded. He and my family stayed silent for a moment before he spoke again, his words tugging at my heart.

_Daddy . . . I miss mommy_ . . . I gave him a sad smile and slowly rolled onto my side, draping my other arm around him and hugging him to me. I kissed the top of his head as his eyes drifted shut, the events of the day taking a toll on his young mind.

"I do too, son. I do too."


	24. Chapter 23 Running

_Running_

_Run . . ._

_Run . . ._

_Run . . ._

It was the only thought that passed through my mind as I shot through the forests of Russia's most western end. My paws were raw and bloody with my running, but I couldn't stop. I was starving and my throat was increasingly dry with thirst. My coat was covered with sweat and matted beyond anything I could have imagined, but I still didn't stop. I ran for miles and miles more before I finally collapsed from utter exhaustion, not even able to drag my limp body into the forest brush to hide. My chest was cracking open with every breath I tried to take, and my abdomen felt like it collapsed in on itself with my exhales.

I laid there for what felt like hours, falling in and out of consciousness many times. I could hear other animals hesitantly approaching, only getting close enough to catch my scent, but as soon as they smelled wolf, they ran the opposite direction. One little squirrel dared to get close, whacking at my tail and quickly scurrying away when he abruptly lost his courage. I could feel my paws finally healing up, but they were still sensitive as I finally found the strength to sit up.

I looked up at the cloudless night sky and sighed softly, slowly getting back on my feet and taking the few steps into the bushes before laying down again. I rested my head on my paws and closed my eyes, letting my thoughts take over. Thoughts wasn't really the word for it though . . . more like images or memories.

I had run for seven days straight, slowing down around the many towns and villages I came across, and speeding up in the forests, and I felt every step I took away from the group I came to know as my family . . . and my boys. Caleb appeared in my mind, his eyes sad as I told him I had to leave for a little while. Edward followed after, his face serene as he laid in the middle of the massive bed I had left him in at the manor. My heart clenched as I thought about them: Caleb running around in my room in Volterra without a care in the world . . . Edward playing his music softly on my guitar as I slept . . . Edward's face the first time he and I brought the fox kits back and they had piled up on his lap . . . Caleb playing with Edward and the men of our family . . .

A tear fell from my eye and I squeezed them tighter. My heart physically hurt with the thought that I left them behind, but I couldn't handle being in that house anymore . . . being _inside_ anymore. I felt lost as I waited for Edward to awaken, like part of myself had wandered away while I had been trapped in the castle. My little excursions outside didn't help, since the thought that I had to go back poisoned the break from the grey brick walls, and that was exactly how I felt before I left. Sick, like something was physically wrong with me, and the only way to make myself better was to get out, to go outside and just let go. No one was happy about my decision, but Jasper stuck with me and Alice assured them I would return safely, so they let me go with only a small fuss. We decided I would head home to Forks once I felt like myself again, and they would meet me there. Edward was their main concern, and they didn't want to move him too much or too quickly incase he suddenly woke. I didn't know if I felt any better now with the pain beating in time with my heart.

The night grew cold and silent as I laid in the bushes, having no drive to get up and move anymore. I heard the animals of the night moving about as they woke up from their slumber, and I shivered. I had never felt more alone than I did in that moment, but I didn't want to be around people. I could smell a small village about a mile away where I could probably find shelter, but the desire fought with the need to be outside, and that need fought with the need to fill the hole steadily growing in the middle of my chest.

I slept uneasily through the night, comforted only by the feel of the half-moon's light shining down around me as I listened to any signs of danger in the deafening silence. My dreams of being with Edward and Caleb again quickly turned into nightmares, flashes of Caleb's little body, broken and void of life, laying next to a fire burning with purple smoke. It quickly changed to Caleb running through the woods with a contented smile on his face, a loud bang, and my little baby lying on his side in a pool of his own blood coming from a hole in his head. Edward's unconscious face appeared next, and, at first, I thought they were finally over. That was until flames suddenly wrapped around his body, charring the skin from his bones and leaving a smiling skull behind.

I jumped up abruptly and whined loudly, pasting my ears to my head and tucking my tail between my legs. I paced back and forth behind the bushes, trying to push the images from my mind. I knew they were fine; Alice said they would be. Emmett told me to never bet against her, so they had to be okay. My chest heaved with my building panic, and I tried to calm myself down by taking deep slow breaths, but nothing was working.

I continued pacing, constantly falling to one side or the other as my incredibly weak body fought against my need to expel my panicked energy, until I smashed the grass beneath my feet into the dirt and a branch snapped behind me. My body tensed and my ears perked up to catch any little sound, and a soft breathing came from only a few yards away. I started falling again, my back legs giving out, but I caught myself just as my hip slammed into the ground.

My hackles rose, as did my lip, and I kept my ears pasted back as another wolf slowly came through the bushes next to me. I took in his looks as I growled low, warning him to stay away, but I didn't feel very intimidating as I fought to keep myself upright. If he was looking to hurt me, I wasn't going to be able to put up much of a fight.

He was mostly white with black and grey long his spine and masking around his light green eyes. His shifter tattoos broke up the startling white coloration, but his eyes made me wary. They twinkled with blatant curiosity, so much so that I snarled. He was quite a bit larger than I was, and I took an unconscious step back. He continued to come closer, only by a few steps before he stopped, and raised his nose into the air. I heard rustling on my other side, and turned to see yet another male wolf emerge. I snarled outright at him, and he took a step back, lowering his head as the other continued to sniff the air.

_Shifter_, he thought to me, his thoughts hinting at a Russian accent. I turned back to him, still growling. He lowered and raised his great head in a nod as my movement confirmed his suspicions. He sniffed again, tilting his head at whatever he discovered, his eyes still that curious light green.

_You smell . . . strange, female_, he thought slowly, trying to decipher the scent. _Unmated . . . and yet . . . mated_. I didn't respond, snarling louder and tucking my tail between my legs when the second took a step forward. This was the worst situation possible for me, to be cornered by two male shifters alone. Edward and I hadn't sealed our mating physically, but our blood mating was working almost as well, even if it were only confusing them. I almost fell again as I turned, hearing the second male shift on his feet behind me.

_We are no threat to you, little one,_ the first one said, but I stayed just how I was, continuously growling. He seemed to understand that, and sat down, the other following his lead. _What is your name, young one_? he asked, but I ignored his question. He huffed loudly and slowly walked forward, laying down at my feet and extending his neck. The position was completely submissive, giving me the chance to attack the most vulnerable side of his body if I didn't want him around. I didn't, but I felt no need to attack him. I glanced at the other, who laid down, and inhaled deeply. And I immediately understood why they weren't a threat.

They were mated.

I felt my eyes grow wide and my ears perked as I realized this, and then the fact that their scents were _the same_ . . . I looked down at the wolf still laying under me and he gave me a grin, getting to his feet. I stepped back to let him up, and effectively fell on my ass as my legs gave out again. I almost continued onto my side, but the other shifter appeared next to me, keeping me sitting up.

_Easy now, little one_, he said, helping me lay down on my stomach. I looked down at the ground, ashamed at myself for how I acted, and only glanced at him in thanks. He stayed next to me as his mate laid down in front, crossing his front paws at his wrists.

_Now that we understand each other a little more_, he said, his voice still hinting at Russian decent, _I am Aleksandr Khitrovo, and this is Grigori, my mate_. His accent really became obvious when he said their names, but I could tell he said Alexander and Gregory. I nodded hesitantly, and Alexander smiled brightly.

I finally turned and looked at my couch cushion, seeing mostly black and dark grey fur with lighter colored tattoo marks flowing across his body. His eyes were a soft, calm blue, while Alexander's were still light green as he remembered my "strange" scent, as he called it. I inhaled deeply, trying to calm myself, and finally spoke.

_Isabella_, I thought quietly, and he tilted his head.

_Your name, I presume?_ he asked, and I nodded shyly. _Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Isabella_._ I have to apologize for startling you so. We caught your scent and decided to investigate. We know all of the shifters in this area, and your scent was strange to us_.

_I . . . I'm sorry . . . I wasn't really thinking when I came here_, I whispered, looking at the ground again. He scooted himself closer and lowered his head to the ground so he could look into my eyes.

_There is no need for apologies, little one. I can see something is bothering you. The cause of your fleeing, maybe?_ he asked, and I just tilted my head, unsure of how to answer. He could tell I was thinking, and his face expressed his worry when my head suddenly lolled to one side. Gregory caught my head with his own, gently lowering me to the ground. I leaned on him even more, but he didn't complain, only rested his head comfortingly on my shoulder. He was a silent one, I realized as my head fought against the black fog trying to take over. My stomach burned with hunger for the first time in a long time, and I knew I should have stopped myself to hunt at least once as I ran.

_You need sustenance, young one_, Alexander chided softly, but I couldn't lift my head to respond. _Where did you run from to put you in this condition?_

_Italy_, I whispered, and he gasped, raising his head sharply to look at Gregory before darting back to me just as I started to close my eyes.

_Isabella . . . that is over seven _thousand_ miles_ . . . he said softly, slowly shaking his head in awe. _What could have caused you to run so far? Did you not stop when you needed to?_ I shook my head briefly. He stood, but I couldn't find it in me to lift my head to look at him.

_Grigori will stay here with you, young one, and I will hunt something for you_, he said, leaving no room for argument. _Rest, and I will return swiftly._

I didn't argue with him, my mind almost immediately shutting down and falling into a fitful, light sleep. I didn't hear anything for a while as my mind rested, but I did hear when Alexander returned. Something was dragging behind him, and he dropped it with a muffled _thump_. I could smell blood and hear them mumbling quietly so as not to wake me, but I woke anyway. Alexander noticed my eyes slowly open, and dragged what he brought over to me.

_It is small, but it should get you back on your feet_, he said, sinking his teeth into the body, ripping a chunk out, and dropping it in front of my mouth. I just stared at it, feeling worse than I had before I slept, and he nudged the meat forward with his nose. My stomach rolled at the sight of it, and I closed my eyes.

_You must eat, young one_, he coaxed, pushing it forward again until it hit my mouth. The smell invaded my nose and my stomach rolled again. I had never let myself go as far as I was at that point, and I vowed I never would again. I felt like I was dying, even though I knew I wasn't, but it was like when a human becomes severely anorexic. Shifters needed food, but not as often as humans, and I had basically starved myself to the point of death for a normal wolf. Whoever these two were, they knew enough to recognize the seriousness of my condition.

Alexander sighed softly and ripped the chunk up into little bite-size pieces. It didn't make it any more appetizing, but he seemed to have given up on my feeding myself. I sensed him shift, but couldn't get my eyes open again to see what he was now. When I felt human hands grab me up and drape me over his lap, I knew what he was. My back was against his stomach as he wrapped a medium-sized hand around my lower jaw, easily opening my mouth and shoving one of the small pieces down my throat. He used his hand to keep my mouth shut as my body tried to get rid of the hunk in my throat, and repeatedly rubbed my neck from under my chin down to right above my breastbone, forcing me to swallow.

"I apologize for the drastic measures, Isabella, but you are too young to spend the rest of your existence in a coma or dead," he whispered with a smile in his words. He sounded like he was only in his twenties, but his words betrayed a much greater age. He was right, though. That was exactly what would have happened, and still would, if they decided not to help me. It was all too common for depressed shifters to not eat, for a human hunter who thought they were dying to shoot them. But . . . that brought up another question.

_Why?_ I asked, only able to get the single word out. He petted my head gently, slowly, as he debated his answer and let my body adjust to the small amount of food it had now.

"Well, Isabella, you are not the first I have seen get to the point you are now," he started, still petting me from my head to my shoulder. "The other, though . . . she did not make it through. The Mother took pity on her in the state she was in, and brought her back to her bosom to comfort her and ease her pain. She died in my arms before I could even try to help her return to the world of the living." My eyes were cracked open at that point, my body attacking the meat like it was my last meal. I immediately felt . . . not better, but not as bad as I had been only moments before. I was facing the surrounding brush, so I had no idea what his facial expression was. All I got was the very brief flash of a young woman, but I couldn't take in any of the details.

"_Anya_ was my baby sister. She was about your age when she lost her mate to a fight with another shifter. A friend of the shifter's came and helped kill her mate, and she ran off without any of us knowing. I managed to find her over a week later, but she was already too far gone." I squeezed my eyes tight as flashes of Caleb and Edward's deaths from my nightmares crossed my mind.

"Who are they, young one?" he asked again, and I let my wall around my memories fall.

All of my memories from when I was young, starting with my brothers' disappearance to going to Europe for my birthday, to being captured in Volterra, to meeting Edward, to finding Caleb, to my escape, Edward's rescue, and finally my running away. By the time I was done, Gregory had moved and laid against Alexander so he was next to me, and I could see his eyes change into a mournful dull blue. I assumed Alexander's were the same, but I still couldn't lift my head to tell. He took time to think about everything I showed him, and used that time to stuff another piece of meat down my throat. I actually attempted to swallow that one, and I could almost feel the happiness radiating from the two of them when I did.

"So you are mated to a vampire, huh, princess?" Alexander asked with what sounded like an amused grin, and I mentally smiled while sighing lightly. "Ah, yes, there is the soul-deep happiness I was looking for," he said, responding to my reaction. "And he is quite the looker, is he not?" I tried to smile and managed to make my lip twitch, but he got the idea. I lifted my head slightly and saw their eyes almost glow with happiness, but it quickly dimmed. It was strange, how their emotions and reactions reflected those of the other, and the changes happened to both of them simultaneously.

I took in Alexander's appearance as I laid there, trying to think of what could have lessened his happiness over my progress. He had dark brown hair that reached the nape of his neck in the back, and it was slightly long everywhere else. It wasn't a bobbed look, like it was the same length all the way around his head, but it wasn't short. My guess at his physical age was about right, his face free of any lines, spots, or wrinkles that would have shown age. He had a strong, sharp jaw and a straight nose, with long lashes framing his expressive eyes. His tattoos traveled from his hairline on either side of his forehead down his cheeks, following his hairline down the sides of his neck and under the neckline of his t-shirt. He was quite handsome, and, from the image of Gregory that appeared when they looked at each other, he had almost the same features. The only real differences were his light brown hair, cut somewhat shorter than Alexander's, and his withdrawn eyes. They gave me the impression that something had happened to him to make him as quiet as he was, but I didn't want to pry and kept my mouth shut.

"Isabella, who is the child?" he asked, getting my mind back on track. "I learned his name from your memories, but he is not yours." I nodded once, not wanting to waste any of the energy I was slowly getting back. He offered me another piece of meat in his open hand, and I took it slowly, attempting to chew it, but not really managing. I swallowed it down past the lump growing in my throat at the thought of my little boy.

_He is a shifter's child Edward found with a group of fox kits while he was hunting_, I explained, my voice rough and broken. _Edward found the vixen dead nearby, but we didn't know he was a shifter when we first took him and the others. He just looked like the runt of the litter. We didn't get the chance to try to find his mother, but he didn't smell at all like a shifter. We assumed she knew something was going to happen to her, or something already had and she managed to save him, and left him with a normal fox to protect him._ I shrugged once, and Alexander looked down at me in thought.

"That is probably what happened, unfortunately, and I have not heard anything from traveling shifters to argue it. What we did hear is not pleasant though," he said, and I waited for him to elaborate. He did so with a soft sigh.

"We heard about the vampires of Volterra trying to capture shifters, and everyone that mentioned it told us the guard members were killing anyone they found for sport, but making it seem like the shifters fought them until the vampires ended up killing them. There were stories of a growing family being attacked, but no one knew if anyone survived. The possibility exists that this family was your child's." I clenched my eyes closed in sadness for my happy little boy, hating even the thought that he could have experienced something like that so early in his life. Alexander felt my pain, gently petting my head and dropping the topic

"What are you going to do now, young one?" he asked, and Edward and Caleb immediately came to the front of my mind. My heart hurt as I thought about them, and I knew exactly what I was going to do. Looking between the two of them and thinking of how in sync they were with each other, how much I wanted that myself, I gave them a small smile.

"I think it's time I went home," I answered, and both of them gave me wide smiles, Gregory's slightly smaller.

"Wonderful, dear. That was what I wanted to hear. Where is home, exactly?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

_I think they're currently on a plane to Washington_, I answered, and he laughed outright, Gregory shaking his head.

"Oh, good answer, young one," Alexander laughed, gently setting me on the ground next to the kill. I ate the rest of the pieces he had removed before, and started on the body myself after I managed to sit up on my own. They let me eat in peace, since I was finally willing, but I had a question of my own.

_How old are the two of you . . . if you don't mind my asking_, I said, growing shy after I voiced my thoughts. Alexander shifted back into a wolf and laid down next to Gregory, who laid his head on Alexander's shoulder and closed his eyes.

_It is fine, Isabella. I should have expected questions, seeing as though you only know our names,_ he responded looking up at the lightening sky. _We are originals, Isabella. Two of the first of our kind. Our age . . . we are almost as old as She is. We have no shifter mother or father, only the Mother of us all._

He didn't explain any further, but I was happy about that. My mind was spinning with the thought of how many millennia they had spent on Earth . . . how many millennia they had spent together. It really brought into perspective how long I was looking at spending mated to Edward, and I realized . . . I was okay with that. I nodded to myself slowly as I chewed.

_Yeah . . . definitely time to go home._


	25. Chapter 24 Back to Reality

_Back to Reality_

It's been one week since I woke up to find Bella gone, and almost nine days since she left us in Italy. We were in Forks, Washington, and about to start midway through a fall semester at the small community college just outside of Forks. We used an excuse that a family emergency caused the need for such an urgent move, and they readily accepted it, with a little held from Jasper. Charlie was welcomed back to the small police station with open arms, and his cover story of being held captive went over well, once all of the detail had been hammered out. He was back as police chief, and the chief that had taken his place relinquished the position with no fuss. Joshua and Joseph were the most excited out of all of us about finally reaching Forks, since they hadn't really had the chance to go to a school. Their story was they had been staying with distant family members who had just passed away. Carlisle, Esme, and Jasper were currently giving them a crash course in approximately five years of schooling they hadn't been able to learn without a classroom, like algebra, history, and proper English. The rest of us helped every now and then, but the three of them were the most patient of us.

I was particularly cranky, to use Alice's word for me. Ever since we reached the house, I was easily annoyed and randomly snapped at the stupidest of times. Esme asked me if I wanted to hunt with her and Carlisle, and I practically bit her head off. Carlisle threw me out to cool off, and I immediately felt bad for hurting her. Jasper knew what was bothering me, and he explained it to the others while I was out. It made sense after hearing him say the words out loud, even through the minds of my family, and I was able to control my short temper a little better.

When we pulled up the drive six days ago, I was hoping beyond anything else to find Bella there waiting for us . . . for _me_ . . . but she wasn't. My family easily felt my unhappiness and disappointment without Jasper's help, and had tried to discreetly search the surrounding area for even a hint of Bella's scent. I could tell what they were doing, though, and they couldn't hide their sadness for both themselves and me when their searches came up empty. I really appreciated the gesture, but I was having trouble controlling my sadness and anxiety. All I could think of during any and every moment I was left to my thoughts were the many ways Bella could _die_ because I wasn't there to protect her.

The one ray of hope I was still clinging to was Caleb. He was my only tie to Bella until she returned, and with him there, I knew she would. Even if she finally realized I wasn't the one she wanted—and I wouldn't blame her one bit if she did—I knew for certain that she would come back for him. I remembered all of the conversations we had had, where she told me things that made me believe she would come back for both of us, not just Caleb, but after one hundred years of wallowing in my own self-hatred and misery, I couldn't help but think there could still be a possibility that the events we met and got to know each other in made her _think_ she wanted to be with me, and now that she was out, her mind had cleared of those thoughts. Jasper went through many different scenarios in his thoughts where he tried to "knock some sense into me" when I got in one of these moods, and got frustrated with constantly trying to lighten my mood. He eventually just stopped, knowing I would be better as soon as Bella got back.

Caleb jumped into my lap, brining me back to the present with a jolt. He sat down and wagged his tail a few times, looking up at me with a question on his face. I gave him a small smile and shook my head, letting him know I was okay as I petted his head. He curled up in my lap as I stared out the window from the couch, realizing just how much I missed the view from the glass wall.

I was watching the moon rise as Caleb fell asleep, his mind full of colors and sounds. It was serene, listening to such innocent thoughts. I happily kept my own mind blank and just listened to him and his dreams. I had to laugh when a memory snuck in from earlier that day. Charlie and Renee had been helping Caleb shift since we arrived in Forks, starting with just his fingers and toes and working up to bigger areas, like his whole hand or foot. Caleb was a quick learner, too, which helped things along quite quickly. He had almost shifted completely by himself, but he hadn't been able to hold his human toddler form. His frustration had everyone laughing, and he had just looked around at us all with his head tilted in confusion.

I sighed softly as I let myself get lost in his mind, drifting from image to image, sound to sound, until I heard someone knock on my door a little while later. I could feel a flash of anger trying to build, but quickly squashed it down. Renee sat down lightly next to me, looking down at little Caleb's sleeping body. She gave me a small, apologetic smile, and I gave her one in return before looking back outside. We sat in silence for some time, but I didn't mind. When she finally spoke, I jumped slightly, having fallen partially back into Caleb's dreams.

"I'm sorry you're going through this," she whispered, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Caleb.

"Going through what?" I asked just as quietly.

"All of this . . . with Bella, I mean," she answered. "It's in our nature to want freedom, to be able to just _live_, and they took that from her in every way possible. I can't say I know how it feels, since we didn't have it nearly as bad as she did, but I can understand her desire to just get away from it all." I continued looking out the window, mulling over what she said. It was very similar to what the Mother had said, but Renee said it as though she thought I was regretting my mating to her daughter.

"I am not sorry I am mated to her, Renee. Being mated to her means I am mated to everything she is, good and bad. I am upset she is not here, that I cannot keep her safe because she is somewhere I am not, but I will never regret what has happened," I explained softly. "I was alone too long to regret finally finding the one I will spend the rest of my life with." She was silent for a moment, following my gaze to the sight outside. The light of the moon, even as it grew smaller, lit up the forest in a white glow. Everything had an ethereal feel to it, even as slowly drifting clouds dimmed the light.

"You know . . . Charlie and I didn't know what to think when we noticed how you and Bella acted around each other. All we've ever wanted was for our little girl to grow up and have a family of her own, to find a mate that could take care of her . . . for her to be happy. We kept a short leash on her after what happened with Joshua and Joseph, but we still tried to keep her happy. Our Bella disappeared as soon as we were brought into that castle, and we didn't think we would ever see our daughter, the Bella we knew and loved, ever again." She paused, and I could see what was coming next as she thought about what to say and how. She eventually decided to just spit it out.

"You brought my baby back, Edward. Even when we were in that hell hole, I could see my Bella in those eyes. That was the first time in _seven years_ that I had seen her. And I also saw how happy you made her while we were there. She's found her mate," she said, placing her hand over the stenciled fox head tattoo on my chest. "And her mate makes her very happy in every way he can. You might not be able to give her a family in the sense we hoped, but it doesn't matter. You gave her _your_ family, a family I can tell already cares for her deeply. You are what we hoped for for our daughter, Edward, and I couldn't be happier. I just wanted you to know." I nodded and she stood, surprising me by kissing the top of my head. She gave Caleb one last soft pet before turning and walking out. Before she closed the door, I decided to speak up.

"She has done the same for me," I whispered, and she paused, her hand on the doorknob.

"I'm glad to hear that, Edward. You deserve to be happy just as much as she does," she said, closing the door behind her. I fell back into Caleb's dreams with a smile on my face and thoughts of what tomorrow and the first day of college could possibly bring.

_Oh, damn . . ._

_They're fucking hot!_

_Where the hell has he been hiding?_

_What I could do to a body like that . . ._

I rolled my eyes in disgust. College students' minds were no better than high school, something that must have slipped my mind when I agreed to go back to school. Jasper sent me a wave of calm, and I gave him a small smile in return. He clapped his hand on my shoulder for a moment before wrapping his arm around Alice's small waist and leading our group to the main office. Joshua and Joseph walked with me, and my siblings walked as couples as we crossed the parking lot. It felt more like a cat walk than a parking lot though, with all of the humans, both young and old, stopping to watch us go by.

We had printed our schedules off the website the night before, and I had at least one family member or one of the twins with me in each of my classes. I was studying liberal arts, with a focus on music and music history, both of my sisters were fashion, Jasper, of course was history, Emmett was engineering, and the twins were studying biology. They thought it would be appropriate, what with their shifting into everything that breathes and all.

Our group filed into the office, almost giving the registration secretaries heart attacks. Alice and Rose took over, giving one of the women our names as I let my mind drift, trying to drown out their perverted thoughts. We were only there to check in, since we were starting late in the semester, and I was anxious to get out.

As soon as the word "okay" left Alice's mouth, I was out the door and walking in the direction of my first class, English 101. The professor, a short woman in her mid-thirties, looked up only briefly when I walked in, heading straight to the back of the room next to the window. She registered the look on my face and decided she would leave me alone today, guessing correctly that I was one of her new students and wasn't taking our "family emergency" all that well. Bella's brothers followed only a minute later, Joshua giving me a sympathetic look while Joseph introduced all three of us to . . . Professor Bartlett. They whispered something about me not taking some personal news well, and she just nodded, gesturing for them to pick their seats. Josh sat in front of me, while Joe sat to my right. It felt planned, such strategic seating, and as soon as the first students walked through the door, I knew I would have to thank Alice later for warning them.

As soon as the other students started filing in, literally right after the boys sat down, all eyes and minds were consumed by us. They wanted us, wanted to be us, or wanted us dead. I had to laugh at those jealous thoughts, especially since they were mostly from jocks whose girlfriends or crushes were currently swarming around the three of us. Joseph and Joshua handles the girls who were trying to catch my attention, briefly explaining what brought us here and telling them I needed some time to get back to being myself again. That just made it worse, making them want to comfort me "in any way I needed," according to their thoughts. I just closed my eyes until I felt someone approach.

Her mind was only focused on me, no thoughts, no emotions, just how I looked sitting there. I was looking towards the window with my eyes closed and my fist against my cheek, propping up my head. The dim light fighting through the clouds glinted off my hair, briefly bringing out the reddish tint. I could feel a growing desire in her to reach out and touch it, but she restrained herself. I let out a subtle sigh of relief, but then her hand landed softly on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shift away, not wanting to be rude, but she was truly testing me.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, and I felt the air shift as she kneeled next to me. I half opened one eye to find a young blonde girl and her twins staring me in the face. Her face was covered in makeup, and she reeked of perfume and hairspray. She started moving her hand down my shoulder to my bicep, and my fight to break the contact grew even stronger.

"Yes, but I would be better if I was left alone," I said quietly. She didn't get the hint, her hand taking a turn towards my chest and her index finger hooking into my collar as she made a "hmph" sound. She pulled it to the side as she leaned forward, but paused when she saw the thin black lines.

"You think you need to be alone, but I'll prove you wrong," she whispered, her mouth at my ear as her finger traced my tattoo. "And if you have any more of these hiding away, I can make you feel even better if you show them to me." He leaned forward to kiss my neck and I leaned away, giving her a blank stare.

"Please leave me alone," I said roughly, trying not to growl. She looked put off at first, but a small smile quickly took over her face as she stood, making sure to push her chest towards me as she did so. I kept my gaze on her face, ignoring the ample chest she seemed to use as her primary weapon.

"When you change your mind, handsome, call me," she whispered, leaning in again and tucking a piece of paper into my jeans pocket. She tried to move her hand farther into my lap, but I grabbed her wrist and gently moved her hand away.

"Amanda, what are you doing?" one of the guys said from the front of the aisle, glaring between myself and his girlfriend.

"Oh, Mason, calm down!" she said, waving off his question. "He's new, so I just wanted to see how he was taking the changes." He didn't buy it, but wrapped his arm around her waist and gave me the mother of death glares. He decided to talk to me after class, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Okay, ladies, leave these guys alone and let's see if I can teach this class anything today," the professor said, coming over and herding the girls to the empty desks. She sent me an apologetic smile, and I gave a small one in return. She wasn't oblivious to our looks, but she was happily married and had no perverted thoughts about some student-teacher fantasy like some of our other teachers that day had.

The day moved slowly, every second seeming to last an hour as my patience wore away with every passing thought. I had been able to handle the obscene minds of humans before, but my need for Bella was cutting down on my tolerance more than I had expected. At this point, I was ready to go home and be with Caleb, just to get away from the minds. Esme and Renee were watching him while Carlisle took his first shift at the hospital and Charlie got back into the station's routine. They were trying to catch him up on seven years of reports, which he made obvious he wasn't thrilled about every time he groaned at just the thought.

My last class was with Emmett and Jasper, as well as the twins. We sat in the back corner of the math room just like we had in our first class, with the others surrounding me in an attempt to keep the human girls at bay. Dearest Amanda was in this class as well, along with the jealous boyfriend. He had chickened out on his "talk" he wanted to have with me, but Alice saw him following me with two of his buddies to my car, and he wasn't going to do that again with his friends there to see it.

The class went by and was finally dismissed after over an hour of what felt like remedial math to us, and I walked out to my car. I could feel Mason and his friends following behind me a little ways back, and sighed softly as I dreaded the pointless conversation that was about to happen. My family knew I could handle the humans, but they were going to hang around where the three wouldn't see them just in case. I could hear their minds on the other side of a large SUV a few cars down, and opened my door. Throwing my bag into the passenger seat, I straightened to find the three humans standing in front of me. I closed my door and leaned against the Volvo, crossing my arms over my chest as they spread themselves out, trying to intimidate me.

"So, how's your day been, Cullen?" Mason asked with a cocky grin on his face.

"It would have gone better if your girlfriend had left me alone," I answered, and he looked surprised.

"You know she's my girl, and yet you would still go after her?" he said, his voice angry. I huffed and rolled my eyes, which only angered him more.

I could see in his mind that he saw me as a threat to what he had. Unlike high school minds, he actually thought what they had was real. He and Amanda had been together since freshman year in high school, and he had real feelings for her. He thought she was the best thing that ever happened to him, her saying yes to going out giving him the confidence boost he hadn't known he needed. As he looked back, I could tell she hadn't been all that faithful to him, even if he hadn't seen the hints then. I pitied the boy after what I saw, and decided to take it easy on him.

"I wasn't going after her, Mason. She came up to me. What she told you back in class, about checking how I was coping, was a lie. She wanted to know how I was doing, but she wanted to know what she could do to _help_ even more," I explained, watching him immediately reject what I was telling him. He was shaking his head, his anger growing at what I was implying about his girlfriend.

"Mason," I started, before his anger could get the best of him. "Listen to me. I'm not the kind of guy to go after someone else's girl. I have my own, even though she isn't here, and I wouldn't replace her just because of that." I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and gave it to him, grabbing his wrist lightly and slapping it into his upturned hand. "I just met her today, Mason, and I can already tell you can do so much better. All she does is look and hit on other guys, even while she's with you, and she doesn't try to hide it. Watch her tomorrow, Mason, and you'll see exactly what I mean." With that, I opened my door and got in. When I started my car, he and his friends moved over to let me out, Mason still looking down at the paper in his hand. I could tell from his mind that the words on the paper were proving what I said, even though he didn't want to believe it. It was hard to argue that your girlfriend wasn't a slut when she gave the new kid a note saying _I can give you a sweaty good time_ with her number on it.

I sighed and followed my family home, all of us going way over the speed limit the whole way. I felt Alice fall into a vision in the convertible ahead of me, but she immediately blocked her thoughts. I only got the very beginning, which was only our house, but I was too mentally exhausted to pry further. I couldn't take her bubbly thoughts right this minute anyway.

We pulled into the drive to find Charlie's cruiser sitting out front. He was home early, which immediately put me on my guard. There were strange scents in the air when I stepped out of the car, and I could feel my eyes darken in response. There was a third among them that smelled familiar, a fruity, flowery scent that had me running straight through the house and out the back door.


	26. Chapter 25 Finally

_Finally_

When my feet touched Washington soil, my heart rejoiced. I thought it was going to burst from my chest. Alexander and Gregory had come with me, even though I tried to convince them it wasn't necessary, but after how they found me, they said they didn't want to give me the chance to do something stupid again. We had a lot of time to talk during our trip, seeing as though we had to run through Mongolia, fly across China, and swim the Pacific Ocean to get back to the states.

My first question had been how they met, and it was a lot like my mother and father, and I guess like Edward and me. They had known as soon as they saw each other, even though neither had thought themselves to be gay. They had been hunting in the same area when they both went after the same prey, at first almost fighting before they realized what was happening. Both of them had tried to move on and find a female mate, but nothing felt right. They came across each other again the next week, and that was that. When I asked how old they were, trying to find out specifically since they didn't really answer me before, I stopped flapping and fell a few feet before I caught myself.

"_You're WHAT?" I screeched at them as we flew, and they mentally chuckled at me._

"_Originals, remember?" Gregory answered, for only the second time ever. The first time he spoke was when I woke up, a day after they found me. All he said was "Okay?" but I counted it as a breakthrough._

"_We were two of the first shifters, hun," Alexander said. "The Mother made our species, and gave us the ability to be anything we wanted. That is how so many different species came to be, my dear. Humans were one of our later forms. Some who tired of the nomadic life stayed in one area in one form, eventually losing the ability to shift through generations and becoming the ancestors of the humans and non-shifting creatures we know today. We decided we liked this life, so we have continued to move and shift as we pleased. We change into humans every now and then, make a human life for ourselves somewhere for a while to make money to live off of, then move on, coming back out into our real home."_

"_So you're . . . what, a few _thousand_ years old?" I asked sarcastically. They glanced at each other for a moment before they both looked at me and nodded._

"_Yeah," Alex said. "Roughly . . . fifty thousand? Plus maybe another . . . five hundred?" I literally froze in shock, forgetting to flap my wings for a moment before remembering just where I was._

"_You're _five hundred and fifty THOUSAND _years old?" I screeched, giving myself a headache with the pitch of my thoughts._

"_Give or take," Alex countered, and I huffed._

"_Give or take _what_?" I pressed, still in shock._

"_Maybe a few hundred years," he answered quickly, and I almost stopped flapping again._

"_Oh my _freaking _God . . . You've got to be kidding . . . I've had to _freaking originals_ taking care of me . . ." I whined, blushing behind my feathers. They just laughed._

Even as old as they were, even with everything they had seen, they still reminded me so much of my and Edward's brothers. They constantly teased and rough-housed with me, and they were hardly ever serious unless the situation called for it. The short amount of time I had spent with Jasper and Emmett gave me the impression they were much the same way, and I knew for a fact that my own brothers were. It was a welcome distraction from everything that had been going on.

_What has you so far away from us, Bella?_ Alex asked, tilting his large wolfen head as we rested from the swim. I was lying on my stomach with my head on my paws, staring at the line of trees not that far away. I shrugged a shoulder.

_Just thinking_, I responded, and he didn't push the subject, instead moving on to another.

_What is that odor, Bella? _he asked, following my gaze towards the trees._ It smells like us, but . . . not_. I raised my nose into the air, picking up the scent he was describing just as our whereabouts finally came to my mind.

_Werewolves_, I answered. _We came out on werewolf land_.

_Ahh_, he said, nodding his head once. _I did not realize they still resided here, not that I've kept tabs on anyone in particular to begin with_._ Is it still the Quileute tribe?_ I nodded in response, getting to my feet as the scent grew strong.

Someone was approaching quickly, their paws barely making a sound as they touched the forest floor. I heard a few more join the first, and Alex and Gregory went on alert. They moved in front of me, their hackles fighting to rise as five large werewolves emerged from the brush. I could barely see over Alex's large shoulder as he stood in front of me, with Gregory to my right, but I could see all five of the wolves were varying shade of brown. They looked familiar, but I couldn't tell one from the other anymore. I had only seen the Quileute boys as werewolves a few times before we were captured, and I had never really paid attention to who had what markings. I was able to tell from the flavor of their minds when they would think something, but I couldn't anymore. It must have been too long since I'd last seen them. One looked slightly younger than the others, only about an inch shorter, but the alpha came forward before I could get a look at the others.

_What is your business here, shifters?_ he asked, his likeness to us giving us the ability to communicate. My dad told me when I was younger that the werewolves were cousins of ours, that they had chosen to live as humans, but defend their people only in the form of a wolf. After a few generations continued the practice, they slowly lost the ability to shift into anything else.

_We are only passing through,_ unum genus, he answered. I didn't know what that meant, the _unum genus_ thing, and apparently the alpha didn't either. It sounded like Latin, and sounded like an insult to the werewolf.

_What did you call me?_ he snarled, taking a step forward.

_Calm yourself, alpha. It is Latin for single breed, which is what you are. It is not an insult, but the term used by the original shifters to describe those like you who choose only one form. Or at least your ancestors did_, Alexander explained, his hackles falling as he tried to calm down the werewolf.

_You are trespassing, shifters. What are your intentions here?_ the alpha asked, even though Alex had already answered that question.

_We are only passing through. Our friend here has family in the area and wishes to be reunited with them_, he answered, gesturing back to me with his head. _They returned here not too long ago, but she needed time by herself before she followed._

_Who are you?_ the alpha asked, still somewhat defensive, but now growing curious.

_I am Aleksandr Khitrovo, and this is my mate, Grigori_, Alex told him, gesturing to Gregory standing next to him. _And this is Isabella_, he finished, moving to the side to give them a small look at me. I just sat there, looking at the werewolves from the corner of my eye. The alpha rolled my name over in his head, thinking I looked familiar, when his mind suddenly linked me with the new arrivals back to town, which happened to be Charlie, Renee, and my brothers.

_Isa . . . Isabella?_ _Isabella Swan?_ he asked slowly, and I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out how he knew my name. His voice was tickling something in the back of my mind, but the next thing he said made the link for me.

_Bells?_ he whispered, the tension leaving his body as he raised his head.

_Jacob?_ I responded, standing up slowly. _Jake?_

_Bells_, he sighed, running forward. I did the same, taking off between Alex and Gregory and crashing into Jake. I landed on my back and he licked at my face, his mind full of relief and happiness. The others joined in quickly, chasing me when Jake let me up and licking my face when they caught me. We finally calmed down when Alex and Gregory trotted over, confusion on their faces.

_You know these wolves?_ Alex asked, and I nodded, sitting next to Jake. Seth came up behind me and nipped my tail, running away before I could even get up to go after him.

_I grew up with Jake once my parents finally got themselves back into society. Our fathers are good friends_, I answered, catching Seth before he got close. I turned quickly and jumped on his back, a surprised yelp coming from him as I landed. He ran again, looping back around and sitting next to Quil and Embry with his head down in defeat.

_Everyone but Sam is younger than me, and we all kind of grew up together. Seth is the youngest_, I finished, giving him a glare as he was about to go for my tail again. Alex and Gregory both nodded, amused by the antics of the young werewolves.

_Your parents have been worried about you, Bells. Are you going to see them?_ Jake asked, and I nodded.

_I was hoping to surprise them, but now it looks like I should get myself cleaned up first,_ I answered, looking down at my sand-covered body. _Besides, once I see them and the Cullens, I probably won't want to bother_.

_What do the leeches have to do with any of this?_ Jake growled, and I sighed.

_Edward and his family broke us out, Jake. And he's my mate,_ I said, expecting his snarl. He had always had a thing for me, but I never felt anything but the love for a brother towards him.

_You've been in the hands of leeches for the past seven years! How could you mate with one after that, Bells?_ he roared, but I stayed calm.

_They are not like the ones that captured us, Jake. They are _nothing_ like them. Edward saved me from them, and in the process of him trying to get all of us out, I fell for him. It's not going to change, so just drop it. Please?_ I asked, knowing he would get out of control about something like this. He stood up and started pacing, huffing and snorting in anger.

_Fine_, he said at last. _Charlie's at work, and all of your stuff was moved back into the old house. The key is under the mat_. With that, he turned and walked into the trees. I felt kind of bad for how the reunion turned out, but there was nothing I could do, or wanted to do, about who I was mated to. He would just have to deal with it, or risk our relationship as friends. I left the decision up to him as the others followed, giving me sympathetic looks. Seth licked my cheek and nudged my chin, telling me everything would work out, but I wasn't so sure.

Alex and Gregory escorted me to my old house, flying with me as birds and landing on the roof to wait. They didn't mention what happened back on the reservation, and for that I was grateful. I didn't want to think about it again until I had to. I shifted into my human form with a little difficulty, since I hadn't shifted into it for over a week, and walked up into the porch. I unlocked the familiar door with the key under the mat, replacing it before I stepped inside. Everything looked the same as it had been before we left for vacation, like no one had moved in while we were gone. The kitchen, the dining room, the living room, even the bathroom had the same furnishings I remembered being there seven years ago.

I walked up to my room to find the same pale blue walls, sky blue bed spread, my little army of knick-knacks sitting on the three-drawer wooden dresser, my little vanity with my small collection of jewelry, my desk with my journal and laptop, everything just how it was. I opened the closet, and was surprised to find all of my clothes hanging and my shoes lined up along the bottom. Grabbing a brown v-neck t-shirt and Capri's, I walked into my bathroom and turned the shower on.

Ten minutes later, I dressed and brushed through my quickly drying hair, tying it up in a half ponytail and grabbing the swirling gold arm bracelet that wrapped around my bicep. It was a small piece, but it was something my mother had passed down to me. I looked into the mirror and grabbed the chain still around my neck. I had completely forgotten about it, the collar Aro had forced on me. A shot of anger ripped through me, and the links broke with a small popping sound, falling to the floor. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about that thing being there, but I told myself after seven years of wearing it, I didn't even notice it anymore. I looked for something to replace it with, but it felt too freeing to have nothing around my neck, so I didn't bother.

Locking up again, the three of us flew to the outskirts of Forks. I had no idea where the Cullens lived, but I remembered Charlie mentioning something to me about a house about a mile or two outside the town that no one seemed to ever live in. It was in the middle of the woods, so it seemed like the perfect place to start.

We dove to the ground and shifted back into wolves as we approached, not wanting to miss a scent because we were so far up, and I immediately knew my guess was right. I could smell the scents of the whole family, including my own family, all over the woods. The most recent trail went off to our left, so we followed.

Only a few minutes of trotting later, and all of the scents converged through the brush. I slowed down, suddenly feeling apprehensive, but Gregory urged me on with a gentle push. I could hear Esme and my mother outside with Caleb, encouraging him to shift, and Charlie's voice joined them only a minute later. A soft breeze blew our scents their way, and I could see them tense through the leaves of the bush in front of me. Esme grabbed Caleb off the ground and Renee moved in front of her, not growling, but not sure if she should be on the defensive. Charlie moved to her other side, standing very slightly in front of both of them. They scanned the tree line slowly, looking for any hint as to who was there, but I didn't move.

The sound of cars coming up the drive made me jump, and my parents' head whipped to where we were hiding. The breeze blew again, slightly stronger this time, and I could see their eyes widen as they practically stared at my face. The rest of the Cullens appeared around them, making a semicircle facing us, and the one person I had looked for in the crowd burst through the back doors with a wild, hopeful look in his eyes. Gregory and Alex pushed me forward, making me take a step out of the tree line and into their sights. All of them gasped as I slowly sat down and wrapped my tail around myself, unsure of what to do next, but the smallest was the first to finally react. Caleb sprung from Esme's arms before any of them had time to recover, and tore across the lawn towards me.

_Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!_ he yelled as he ran, smacking into my stomach at full speed. He sat up on his hind legs and buried his face in my stomach, trying to wrap his little arms around me. I put a paw behind him and lowered my head to his back, pressing him to me even more. I shifted and stood, scooping him up in my arms and burying my face in the fur of his little body.

"My boy, my little boy," I said, repeating myself over and over as he whined into my neck and I purred. A tear fell down my cheek as I listened to the desperate sounds coming from my son, but my attention was brought back to the others when Alexander and Gregory stepped out next to me, laying down and crossing their paws in front of them. Everyone in front of me either growled or gasped, but my eyes were trained on only one.

Edward stood on the back porch, his legs spread from stopping mid-stride, and his dark gold gaze was trained on me. His family and mine moved out from in front of him, and I gently put Caleb down. I saw from the corner of my eye that he was sitting in front of Gregory and wagging his tail happily, even though he didn't know who it was that was in front of him. I would have laughed and shaken my head had I been able to remove my eyes from Edward's, but it was impossible. He was just as frozen as I was, and a not-so-gentle shove from Emmett got him to take his first step towards me. That was all it took before the both of us took off running like it had been _years_ since we last saw each other, but that's exactly how it felt.

We crashed into each other and my arms immediately wrapped around his neck as I buried my face in between his neck and my arm. His arms draped tightly around my waist, lifting me off my feet as he crushed my body to his chest and pressed his own face into my neck. I could feel him inhaling deeply, both reassuring himself that I was there and trying to stay calm, and another tear fell down my face and onto his shirt.

"Bella," he choked, and I nodded fervently, smiling slightly.

"It's me, Edward," I whispered, the purr in my chest growing louder as his lips pressed against my skin. "I'm back."

He quickly leaned back and nudged my face away from his neck, capturing my lips with his in a kiss so full of relief, he couldn't help but sigh against my mouth. His tongue brushed my bottom lip, and I put my hands on either side of his face as I opened my mouth to him. He delved into my mouth and I held in a moan at the sensation of his tongue meeting and sliding against mine, tilting my head to give him better access. He pulled away all too soon, aware of the audience not too far away, and put his forehead against my neck again. My legs had wrapped around his waist at one point, and his arms had drifted, one holding me under my ass and the other across my back. I laid my held on his shoulder with a sigh, closing my eyes and just breathing him in.

We stayed like that for God knows how long, finally breaking apart when little paws scratched at Edward's pants. We both looked down, our foreheads touching, to see Caleb jumping around in circles at our feet. When he saw that we were looking, he took laps around Edward's feet, stopping at the third and putting his front paws on Edward's leg again. Edward kneeled down, setting me down with him, and Caleb jumped between us, licking both of our face and repeating "_mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy_" over and over again. I picked him up between us and Caleb kept looking from me to Edward and back again, his tongue hanging out to the side as he panted with excitement. We looked at each other and smiled, both of us leaning forward and kissing the sides of his face. He squealed in happiness, and it was one of the best sounds I had ever heard, the other being Edward's laugh right after.


	27. Chapter 26 Unum Regni

_Unum Regni_

"Let's all go inside, shall we?" Carlisle said softly, breaking into our little family bubble. Edward stood, bringing Caleb and me with him, and looked to Alexander and Gregory. They had stood to leave, but paused when Edward's attention shifted to them.

"You brought my Bella back to me and made our family whole again. You are always welcome here," Edward said, emotion obviously trying to choke him as he spoke. I nodded from my position still wrapped around Edward's body.

"Please don't go just yet," I asked, and Caleb jumped down from our arms, running over to the two of them. He ran circles around them in his excitement before sitting down in front of them.

_Does he speak yet, young one?_ Alex asked, and I nodded.

"He has his chatter box moments, but most of the time he just shows you what he wants you to know," Edward added. "Right now, he doesn't want you to go."

_No go, no go!_ Caleb exclaimed, running back and forth in front of them before wrapping his legs around one of Gregory's front legs. They looked at each other, silently discussing their decision, but I could tell as soon as Caleb spoke that they weren't going anywhere just yet.

"Alright, we will join you for a short time," Alex said after shifting back into human form. Gregory did the same, and Caleb stopped in his tracks, staring up at them in shock and awe. He recovered quickly, running around them again and stopping at their feet.

_Watch, me too! Me, too!_ Caleb cried, his face screwing up in concentration.

He squeezed his eyes shut as his skin began to ripple, his body slowly starting the process of shifting before our eyes. His red fur receded, exposing pale white skin underneath. A shock of reddish-brown hair sprouted on top of his head as his snout shrank, leaving a little button nose in its place. Plump little legs and arms appeared, his fingers only half the size of mine. When he finally stood up, he was a one-year-old toddler in little baby jean overalls and a t-shirt that said "Mommy's Little Animal." He quickly lost his balance, not used to being on only two legs after having four for so long, but Alex and Gregory helped him back up and gave his hair a ruffle in congratulations as he held onto their fingers. Edward put me down slowly, keeping his hands at the small of my back as I walked to my little boy, both of us kneeling down next to him in shock.

"Caleb . . . baby, you shifted all by yourself!" I cried, and he nodded with a huge smile on his face. I scooped him up into my arms and kissed him all over his face, a smile breaking out as he squealed and laughed. I stopped after a short time, letting him catch his breath as I continued to purr in happiness.

"That's the first time he's shifted completely at all, dear," Esme said, and I turned to see a tearful smile on her face and my mother nodding in agreement. "He shifted yesterday, but we couldn't get rid of that pesky tail."

I looked down at my son with wonder and pride. His round face smiled happily at everyone, his bright yellow eyes travelling from one person to another. He was only the size of a one-year-old human child, but he was much more intellectually developed. I immediately knew where he would have seen that particular hair color to choose it for himself. His meaty little hands gripped my shirt at the shoulder and Edward's t-shirt sleeve in the other as we held him between us.

I was truly surprised he was actually there and not a dream. My mind kept replaying everything Alex and Gregory had told me about Aro's guard and the shifters, and it finally hit me that I could have never known this happy little child in my arms had it not been for them and his amazing mother. She knew enough about what was going on to hide him and keep him safe, and it seemed like destiny that Edward found him and the others. I knew that without them, Edward and I wouldn't have gotten as close as we did before he tried to get me out. His saving their little group showed me a side of Edward that brought my defensive walls crashing down, something that wouldn't have happened as easily any other way. I tried to deny the fact that Edward was different, but for him to take the time to care about what happened to them, to give me something to live for in that hell hole of a castle . . . all of my arguments fell apart. Even if he had been trying to get me to let him in just so he could hurt me, the story he had given Aro, I didn't believe anyone would got o that sort of length. There would have been easier ways than that to get me to open up, even if they would have taken much more patience on Edward's part. In essence, both Caleb's mother and Aro's guard gave me a life I never would have had any other way.

"That's not completely true, Bella," Edward whispered into my ear. "I like to think we would have found each other eventually." I just shook my head at him, looking at his smiling face from the corner of my eye. He kissed the corner of my mouth as we stood, Caleb still in my arms, and all of us walked towards the house. Edward scooped me up bridal-style and shrugged when I gave him a questioning look.

"What?" he asked, an innocent smile on his face. "I can't fight the urge to touch my mate." I rolled my eyes and rested my head against his chest, closing my eyes as I listened to him breath.

He kissed the top of my head as he walked up the back steps, and kissed my forehead when he sat on the couch. Caleb curled up in my lap and immediately fell asleep, his body completely relaxed and free of tension. His head was resting on my chest, and his little fist had my shirt in its tight grasp. Edward gestured to the floor above us, asking if I wanted to put him upstairs to sleep, but I shook my head, running my fingers through the soft, thick hair on Caleb's head. There was a reddish tint that glinted at me as the light from the window hit the short strands, and I looked up at Edward's wild mop with a smile. I ran my fingers through it and he closed his eyes in content, resting his head against the top of my own.

"Are you two hungry?" Esme asked Alexander and Gregory, but she was already in the kitchen making something.

"I guess I could eat," Alex answered, and Gregory shrugged before nodding once.

"Is pasta okay?" she continued, and they agreed, trying to argue that she didn't have to make anything extensive, but she wouldn't hear it.

"It's no trouble. Besides, Bella will join you, so I might as well," she responded, and I lifted my head, disturbing Edward's and causing him to instead put his head on my shoulder.

"I will?" I asked, and everyone laughed. "How come it doesn't sound like I have a choice in this decision?"

"You have a choice, but you should get used to Esme trying to feed you until you pop, especially since you are one of the only ones that can eat," Edward mumbled, not moving his head from my shoulder to talk.

"Oh, Edward, stop! I'm not that bad!" she exclaimed before looking at me. "Until I have seen you eat with my own eyes, I'll just worry that you haven't eaten recently." Edward huffed in disbelief, but she ignored him. She left no room for argument, so I just nodded and kept my mouth shut. She came back out a few minutes later with three plates of pasta with marinara, handing two to Alex and Gregory, Gregory standing behind Alex, who was in the armchair. Edward took mine from her, holding it so I could eat and not disturb Caleb.

"So, how shall we start?" Carlisle asked, sitting on the arm of the loveseat next to Esme. Jasper was sitting next to her with his arm around Alice's waist, who was sitting on the other couch arm. Emmett and Rose were sitting with us on the couch, while Renee, Charlie, and my brothers pulled in chairs from the kitchen table and dining room.

"I've always found introductions to be a good place to begin," Alex responded. "That hasn't changed in recent years, has it?"

"No, and that's where we will begin," Carlisle answered with a small smile. "And since you are the guests, we will begin." He circled the room, starting with Edward, Caleb, and me, and pointed out everyone and their mates. Alex and Gregory nodded to everyone individually, listening intently to Carlisle.

"Emmett and Rosalie are the youngest of us as vampires, and Edward is the youngest physically, being only seventeen," he finished, piquing Alex and Gregory's interest.

"Yeah," Emmett added. "He's the little brother, no matter how much he argues about it." Edward rolled his eyes as Emmett and Jasper touched fists.

"How old are all of you?" Alexander asked for the two of them. "We know Bella here is relatively young for our kind, but she hasn't told us exactly how young."

"I'm one hundred and ten," Edward answered. "Carlisle is about three hundred and seventy, Esme is one hundred and sixteen, Alice is also one hundred and ten, Jasper is one hundred and sixty-eight, and both Emmett and Rosalie are ninety-six."

"My brothers and I are twenty-five," I said, looking towards my parents to let them decide what they were going to say. My dad huffed.

"I'm sixty-eight, and Renee is-"

"Younger than him," my mother interrupted, slapping a hand over Charlie's mouth. Everyone laughed at this, and she glared at dad, who looked down at his lap in shame.

"Well, I am _Aleksandr Khitrovo_, and this is _Grigori_, my mate," Alex said, gesturing with his hand toward Gregory behind him. "We are original shifters, so we've lost track of exactly how many years we've accumulated. It's roughly . . . five hundred and fifty thousand, I think." He looked back at Gregory, who shrugged and nodded once. When he looked back at the vampires and shifters in the room, every one of them but me had their chins to the floor in shock. He gave them an understanding smile and shook his head, telling them the same things they had told me on the way back. It took a minute before anyone spoke once he was finished, but Carlisle broke the silence.

"The extent of knowledge you must have acquired . . ." he whispered, unable to finish the thought verbally. He shook his head.

"Yes, we used to be part of the _ultima regni_, the "ultimate kingdom," but things started falling apart once the _unum genus_ started appearing and breeding," Alex explained sadly. "They are those who chose one form, or one breed, as the translation puts it, and lost the ability to shift forms. Communication became harder and harder, and thought processes became too different for us to rule fairly and equally. The branches of our kingdom collapsed, and everything else followed." He paused, and everyone waited for him to continue with bated breath.

"The _concilium_ of the _ultima regni_ was made of seven originals, one for every continent. Each of the members ruled over one continent, and we would meet once a year to discuss problems or issues in the area. _Grigori_ and I lived in Russia and ruled over all of Asia, but when the _concilium_ split up and the kingdom was lost, we decided to live in the background as the world changed around us. We were not sure where we would fit in with all of the _unum genus_, so we watched as the world we knew disappeared before our eyes. We would appear in what quickly became the human world to keep ourselves up to date, but it was never for very long. As it stands, it's been almost ten years since the last time we lived as humans." He looked up at Gregory, who had a sad look on his face. We were all completely in awe of the two people before us, and had no idea how to respond to what he had just been told. Well, all of us but Emmett.

"You guys were like _freaking gay kings_!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands forward in amazement. They smiled sadly and nodded once as Rosalie smacked Emmett in the back of the head and rolled her eyes.

"This is the first time I have heard of such a council, or the kingdom, for that matter," Carlisle said, his thirst for information obvious on his face.

"I would love to regale you with the details of our most boring meetings, Carlisle," Alexander responded in a drab tone.

"I would enjoy that," Carlisle answered, but I had another question before we moved on to whatever else we were going to talk about.

"Wait a minute . . . if the Mother only made seven originals, and those seven ruled over one of the continents, where did your mates come from?" I asked, trying to figure out the answer as I did so.

"It is not as complicated as I can see you trying to make it, _vulpecula_," Gregory said, speaking for the first time since we arrived. He had a small smile on his face, amusement winking at me from his light green eyes.

"What?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Little fox," Alex explained with a smile. "We forget the mother language is long extinct to the rest of the world. And to answer your question, we lived on the Earth for only weeks before the Mother decided her _Creatio_ was not yet over. We were Her originals, Her first children, but the world was still too empty. So She created more shifters and spread them across the continents, starting with the mates of Her originals. She took everything we wanted in someone and created them for us, even if we did not know what we were looking for ourselves. Truth be told, it always felt like something was missing, something we needed to find. When we did, we knew it almost instantly, consciously or otherwise." He looked briefly, lovingly, to Gregory, who gave him a small, relaxed smile. They were a prime example of the "otherwise." "She did not lay the before us to find, though. We had to find them. After She created our mates, She started making other shifters to add to the fourteen of us already there. Only one hundred were created before She . . . gave us the reigns, so to speak."

"_Corpora terra, aeris pulmones, aquarum venas, et cor incaendium_," Gregory whispered with a content smile.

"Bodies of earth, lungs of air, veins of water, and wildfire hearts," Alexander translated, with the same look on his face. A shiver went through me at the words, and Edward rubbed his thumb over my knuckles in response.

"Did She have a hand in the mates for anyone else? Did She do the same for the rest of us?" I asked, squeezing Edward's hand in anticipation.

"No," Edward said hesitantly, looking at the floor. All of us turned to him with questioning looks, and he sighed loudly, looking straight out the window. I put my hand to his cheek, turning him to look at me.

"Edward, how do you know that?" I asked softly, and for the first time since after the meeting room back in Volterra, he looked really worried about what he was going to say. The same uncertainty was in his eyes, like he was afraid of how I was going to react.

"Edward?" I asked, rubbing my thumb across the top of his cheek. "What is it?" I brought my other hand up to the opposite side of his face as my worry fought through my calm. My body grew tense and my breaths shallow, my eyes darting back and forth between his as I grew more and more agitated. He finally sighed again and leaned heavily into my hand. I ran the other through the hair on the side of his head slowly, trying to calm him enough to get him to speak, and he did.

"I was hoping to talk to you about this alone, but I don't know what it means. I do know the answer to your question is no." He paused for a moment, his voice low with hesitation. "After all of you came to get me, when I was healing . . . I met her." He stopped, looking at my face briefly for a reaction, but found none.

"Met who?" Emmett asked, his face screwed up in confusion. Edward didn't answer right away.

"The Mother," I answered for him, looking into his eyes with concern. "Edward, what is it? What has you so worried about what I'm going to think?" I asked, and he gave me a half smile.

"I thought _I_ was the mind reader," he mumbled, his nerves still getting the best of him.

"Don't try to change the subject, mister," I chided softly, briefly pressing my lips to his. He sighed again, and I ran a soothing hand slowly through his hair.

"She . . . told me about us . . . about how this will work between us," he started slowly. "She said . . . it would be . . . _more_. Our bond, because we're different, works differently than the normal mating bond. We will be bonded like my family, but we will be more intimately connected than they are, more like yours, even though I'm not a shifter." He paused again, that damned worry still on his face. I kissed his forehead and caressed his cheeks, trying to get him to continue. He seemed to be getting to the part that was really bothering him, which made me worry, too.

"Just say it, Edward, and we'll deal with it. Okay?" I asked, and he nodded after a moment.

"It's not just one thing, though. She gave you a new power, something to make our relationship a little easier, and she told me . . . she told me that I'm a . . . an incubus," he finished, but I had no idea what that meant. I looked to Charlie and Renee, but they looked just as confused as I was. Edward's family seemed to know what it meant, and Alexander and Gregory looked like they had at least an idea of what Edward was talking about.

"What power? I don't feel any different," I said, briefly shrugging my shoulder. Caleb was still sleeping against my chest, and I didn't want to wake him. His little fists were gripping two of my fingers, and his hands would flinch every now and then as he dreamed. I decided to start with what appeared to be the easier of the topics, since the other might need a little more explanation.

"You can shift the forms of people you have bonded positively to," he explained, and I raised an eyebrow. "You can change people you like into whatever you can change into. It won't draw anything from you as far as energy, but if the bond breaks or you stop feeling friendly towards them, they will change back into their original forms."

"So, it's like what I can do with Caleb," I said slowly, and he nodded.

"I can only think of one way it would help us, which would be that it will let us stay in one place a lot longer if you shift us a small bit every so often to keep up the appearance of aging," Edward mumbled, thinking out loud.

"That would seem the logical explanation," Carlisle shrugged, obviously trying to think of anything else. "Or maybe she thought it would be good to give us the chance to experience Bella's life for ourselves . . . give us a better feeling of what it means to be a shifter so we could better understand her and her family." We left him to his thoughts as I asked the other burning question, the one about Edward being an . . . incu- something.

"What about the other one? What does that mean? Is it bad?" I asked, looking around at anyone willing to answer. Edward huffed and I looked back at him. He was looking out the window across the room again, a small, wry smile on his face.

"That depends. It doesn't affect me in any way, really, but it affects _us_," he said cryptically. I waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"It means he is one of only a few vampires that can impregnate a human," Carlisle answered, his mind visibly trying to make the connection to us. It only took another second before he succeeded, the same time I did. The link came to me with a gasp, and I looked at Edward again.

"That's . . . That's not bad," I sighed, a smile breaking out on my face. Edward didn't seem nearly as excited, which instantly had me worried again. He seemed to sense where my thoughts were headed, and he instantly turned remorseful.

"Oh! Bella, that's not . . . that's not what I was getting at. Not at all," he whispered, his hands cupping my face like mine had been to his. My hands were now in my lap, having fallen from his cheeks when I started thinking about the implications of Edward's pessimism about us being able to have children. I started thinking he didn't want to, but he stopped me.

"Don't, please . . . Don't think that. That's not what I meant, Bella," he kept saying, and Alexander came up behind me, laying a hand lightly on my shoulder with Gregory right behind him. I slammed my shield down over my thoughts, locking Edward out. He visibly flinched as I ripped my mind from his grasp, but I didn't apologize.

"You need to talk about this," he said softly. "Put the young one to bed and go for a run. This is a conversation the two of you need to have alone, where there is no fear of being overheard. Where you can say and do what you need to in order to understand and get past what has changed." I saw Edward nod as I blinked away the few tears that had welled up, and Esme knelt next to me.

I gently slipped my fingers from Caleb's grip and she gently lifted him from my chest, my skin instantly feeling cold without his body there. I stood up slowly and Edward did the same, putting his hand to the small of my back as he steered me towards the back door and into the darkening night.


	28. Chapter 27 Choices

_***Rated M Content***_

_Choice_

We walked out the back door with silence in our wake, but the house instantly came back to life when Edward shut the door behind him. I kept walking down the porch steps and towards the tree line, and Edward jogged lightly to catch up. I could feel his hand lightly brush mine, and crossed my arms over my chest. I could feel his hurt coming off him in waves, but until we talked and cleared the air, I couldn't touch him. Not with the thought that he might not want what I did . . . that he might not want children with me.

"Bella . . ." he whispered, but I ignored him and took off, breaking into a run and landing on four paws. He followed close behind, but seemed to take the hint and stayed silent.

I ran full out, and Edward kept up easily. My mind kept replaying the look on his face in the house over and over again, the cynicism marring his face. I thought he liked being a dad, that he liked caring for Caleb. I thought he would want to have children with me. He said he loved me, but . . . maybe he was just saying it. It wouldn't be the first time someone said something without meaning it. I lived for seven years with vampires that lied to me left and right, and he was a vampire, too. Maybe I could have been wrong about him being different . . . maybe he played me just like they had . . .

I shook my head roughly and jumped, shifting into an eagle. I just flew, embracing the feeling of the air holding me aloft until a memory crashed into the front of my mind. My wings faltered as the feeling of Aro's hands moving roughly over my body assaulted my mind. I could feel him pinching, scratching, and digging at my body as he took me on my own bed, his ragged breaths invading my ear. My legs burned where he had ripped at the insides of my legs, prying them open, and I could feel my body tearing as he forced his arousal into my ill-prepared body. I cried out at the phantom pain I felt from the memory, wrestling the memory back in an attempt to clear my mind. I didn't know why I was remembering these things now, so long after I was rescued, but I could only think that the conversation waiting to be had was at least one of the triggers. Another might have been the fact that I was relatively safe now, safe enough for the trauma I had been keeping locked down to free itself, but I couldn't think about any of that now. I wasn't ready. Not yet.

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind as I flew, knowing I was high enough not to hit anything. I could hear Edward still running down below, directly under me, but I ignored him. Tucking my wings in slightly and opening my eyes, I dove for the ground. A cry sounded from below me, but I snapped my wings back open right before I would have smashed into the top of a tree. I spiraled straight up before freezing, falling with my back towards the ground. Spinning so I was right side up, I swooped down and back up, looping through the air as I continued forward. I had no idea where I was going, or how far I would go before I stopped, but I was happy to finally just . . . be. I flew for another minute or two before I heard a whisper next to my ear, a soft _chance_. It took a moment, but I realized She was talking to me. I listened harder, blocking out all of the other sounds around me, and heard Her again.

_Give him a chance_, She whispered, and I sighed lightly, closing my eyes again for a moment. She kept repeating the same phrase over and over, and I finally turned around.

Arcing widely to make sure Edward knew what I was doing, I headed back for home. He raced ahead at one point and stopped in the middle of a clearing a few miles from the house, clearly asking me to land there. I hesitated for a moment before joining him a few yards away, landing and shifting back into wolf form. I stood so I was slightly turned away from him and didn't think anything, just in case my shield slipped. I watched him out of the corner of my eye to see a deeply hurt look on his face, but I couldn't make myself care about his feelings just yet. He didn't have anything to feel hurt over. Not like I did.

"Bella," he said softly, but I didn't respond. My body tensed when he took a step towards me, and his hurt grew. "Bella, please . . ." I still didn't say anything, and he seemed to think twice about moving towards me again. "Talk to me, Bella," he pleaded, and I whirled on him in human form, unable to hold everything in anymore.  
>"<em>Talk<em> to you?" I squealed, my voice going higher than I ever heard it before. "About _what_, Edward? The fact that you _saved_ me just to use me as a _booty call_? The fact that you never planned on going any farther with our relationship than _casual sex_? Or that the thought of having _children_ with me apparently _disgusts_ you? Do you want me to talk about any of _that_, or did you have something _else_ in mind?" I screamed, and he flinched back. I felt a flash of guilt, but it was gone as quickly as it came. I paced back and forth, unable to calm myself enough to just stand there, and kept clenching my fists at my sides. Tears burned where they built up in my eyes, a few spilling over. I swiped at them angrily as he started speaking.

"_What_?" he whispered, his hurt dripping off his words. "Is that what you think, Bella?" he asked, but I just kept pacing. I wiped more tears from my face as he tried taking a step again, and I froze, pointing a semi-changed claw at him.

"Don't you _dare_ come near me, Edward Cullen," I snarled, and he flinched like I had physically hit him.

"Fine," he whispered, raising his hands in surrender and taking a step back. I started pacing again, still watching him.

"None of that is true, Bella. I don't want you just for booty calls or casual sex. I didn't save you for those things, Bella. They weren't part of the reason at all. You know how I feel about you, Bella, and that hasn't changed. It _won't_ change," he pleaded, but I kept up my pacing.

"I saved you and your family because you were being held captive. I saved you because you were being tortured. I saved you because Aro was a pompous ass who believed anyone who wasn't a vampire was trash. I saved you because I grew to care for you the longer I was there. I saved you because you fit into my family like a glove, and they quickly came to see you as part of it. I saved you because my family loves you." He paused, causing me to stop and look at him, my face slowly losing the rage I had been feeling. He took a step forward, but I didn't say anything. I didn't think my body couldn't get any more tense than it already was, but when he took yet another step, I felt like I was locked in place. I tried to pace again, but my body refused to move.

"I saved you because I love you, Bella. Of all those reasons, that is the most important for you to know. I love you," he repeated, and I felt my anger crumble even more. He took another couple of steps forward, but I didn't respond. I kept glancing at him, feeling the fire red fade from my eyes, and he must have, too. Another few steps disappeared between us, and then another, until he was only a foot or so away.

"Bella, please," he whispered. "Please look at me." I hesitated, but I did. My walls instantly crumbled as his hands slowly came up to cup my face, his thumbs wiping at the tracks my last few tears had left down my cheeks.

"I love you, Bella, and if it weren't for my situation, I would have as many children with you as you would allow," he whispered, his emotion obvious in his voice.

"What are you talking about, Edward? That . . . whatever it is She said you are is what makes us _able_ to have children. How would it stop us?" I asked, my brows scrunched in confusion. I shook my head and he brushed his thumbs over my cheeks.

"I'm a _vampire_, Bella. A monster, not a father. To have children with me . . . to have children with a bloodsucking creature would only damn them as much as my curse has damned me," he explained, giving me a sad smile. Just like that, I was about ready to hit him.

"How can you say you're not a father?" I breathed, wrapping my hands around his wrists and bringing his hands down from my face. I replayed every moment from inside Volterra from the moment those fox kits curled in his lap to right before we fought, when he and I had been kissing Caleb. He was nothing but a caring, loving father to that boy, as well as the fox babies, and they weren't even his. Every one of them had loved him to pieces, not caring that he was dangerous or that he wasn't like them. His eyes flooded with venom at what I was showing and telling him, but he shook his head.

"You don't know me, Bella. You don't know me enough to say that," he whispered, and this time, it was him with my hands cupping his face in comfort. "I _am_ a monster, Bella. A soulless, cruel monster. You just don't know about that side of me." I gave him a soft but encouraging look as I gently pulled him down to the ground. He complied and sat Indian style, pulling me into his lap when I went to sit next to him. One look at his agonized face was all I needed to know he wasn't trying to rush things; he just needed someone to hold on to. I sat facing him with my legs on either side of his waist, and he kept his fingers locked at the small of my back.

"You say I don't know you, Edward, and that is very true. What I _do_ know is that you care about the people around you, even at the cost of hurting yourself. I know you risked your life to save me. I know that I fell in love with the gentleman your mother raised you to be, and the vampire you are today." His gaze shot up from the ground to meet mine, and I gave him a small smile. "Alice and the other girls told me a little about you. They were trying to make it easier for me to let you in, to trust you enough to let you get close." He nodded and I continued.

"I also know that little shifter child fast asleep back at the house sees you as his father, as his dad, whether you want to deny it or not. _You are his dad_, Edward, and you are no soulless monster. But as this past of yours is burning you so badly, tell me. Tell me what it is about you that makes you think you aren't worthy of some kind of happiness. You already gave me my happiness, so let me give you yours." His hands tightened on themselves against my back as his body tensed, and I ran a hand slowly through the hair on the side of his head.

"Let me in like I let you in, Edward. Give me some of your burden," I whispered, and he closed his eyes, leaning heavily into the hand still cupping his face.

"I lost both of my parents to the Spanish Flu in 1918, and would have died myself had Carlisle not changed me," he started. "My mother's dying wish was for Carlisle to do everything in his power to save her baby boy, and he did. To this day, we still don't know if she somehow knew what he was." He paused for a moment before he continued.

"I inherited her hair and green eyes, and I got my height from my father. He was the first to die. My mother died three days later. I would have died only hours after her, but Carlisle faked my death and took me to his home. I woke up three days later to a burning in my throat like nothing I had ever felt. It was like the fire that had burned through my body during my change was still alive in my throat. I tried Carlisle's animal diet for ten years before I snapped. He had changed Esme about three years before that, and between her constant battles with her newborn thirst, my own newborn thirst, and my self-hatred for what I was, I couldn't deal with it anymore. I hated what I was, hated the constant battle with what I knew my new form wanted, so I gave in. I ran from Carlisle and Esme, and lived as a nomad for five years before I came crawling back to him, red-eyed and so fucking guilty . . ." He paused again, but I stayed silent. He had kept his eyes closed the entire time, and I kept my hand moving through his hair to keep him as calm as I could. He opened his eyes then, that age-old guilt staring at me from pitch-black eyes.

"I tried, Bella," he whispered, his eyes flooding with venom again. "I _tried_ to be good, but I was still killing people to keep myself alive. I took rapists, murderers, child abusers, _anyone_ who wasn't an innocent . . . but I was still killing living beings . . . cutting their lives short to sustain my damned existence . . . to make myself more _comfortable_ while I waited out eternity alone. I was playing the role of someone who had forsaken me. I was no longer one of God's creations, but I played with the lives of humans."

"Carlisle and Esme welcomed me back with open arms, not questions asked. I went back to animals, but my body craved the sweet blood it had tasted. The monster wouldn't be satisfied with animals anymore, but I stuck to it. I haven't tasted human blood since, but the memories of their faces are still there . . . I can still see the terror on their faces as I dove for their necks, hear their screams as their last breaths left their lungs . . ." He squeezed his eyes closed at the memories assaulting his mind, and I tried to get him to look at me.

"Edward, stop," I whispered, but he didn't respond. "You may have forgotten, but I've killed, too. The difference is I was _forced_ to kill, Edward, whether I thought they were innocent or not. Yes, you killed people, but you held on to your humanity while you did so. You only took criminals, and you _chose_ to do that. You weren't joking when you told me you didn't choose to be a vampire, but I didn't choose to be born a shifter. I didn't _choose_ to be captured in Volterra. I didn't _choose_ to be Aro's prostitute. I didn't _choose_ to do the things I did to the vampires in that castle. I didn't _choose_ to let them do what they did to me. I didn't _choose_ to murder humans and vampires because they fell in love. _That_ is what makes you different, Edward. You chose to start feeding from humans, but you chose which ones you took for good reasons. You _chose_ to stop and go back to Carlisle and Esme. You _chose_ to go back to your animal diet, and you _chose_ to save me and my family from Volterra at the risk of your own life." Edward stayed quiet, and I brushed my thumbs over his cheeks. His eyes fluttered open, a blank void.

"You had _control_ over what you did, Edward, and with the choices you made, you could never be a monster," I implored, staring into his eyes. I could see some of the spark coming back into his eyes, but I still wasn't satisfied.

"The true monsters were the vampires who forced me to do what they wanted. You are _nothing_ like them. But, you know, out of all the things I was forced to do, there's only one choice I wish I could have made for myself," I thought out loud, giving Edward a small, sad smile.

"What?" he asked, curiosity filling the void that had been looking back at me.

"I didn't choose to fall in love with you, Edward. It just . . . happened," I said with a shrug. He looked at me with confusion again, and I clarified before he could say anything.

"Being able to choose wouldn't have changed the way I feel, but to be able to say I chose to fall in love with a man as caring, protective, and loving as you would be the sweetest thing. And I do love you, Edward, monster and all." I brushed my thumbs across his cheeks again, leaning in to briefly press my lips to his.

"And, Mr. Not-A-Monster, I _choose_ to have children with you, whether they be little half-vampire beasties, or human-looking animal things with fangs. They will be _ours_, and that's all that matters to me."

"I love you, too, Bella, and I can't believe how I managed to get a girl like you," he whispered, a small smile and his eyes alight once more. "I'm a lucky-ass bastard."

He shook his head and closed his eyes with a happy smile on his face, still leaning heavily on my hand. I lowered his head until his forehead was resting on my shoulder, and leaned my own down on his. He abruptly pulled me flush against his torso, wrapping his arms tightly around me as his face disappeared in my hair at my neck. I flinched as the change caused the seam of my pants to press against me, memories of Volterra deciding that it was a good time to haunt me.

I saw Aro pulling me onto his lap, my back against his front, and his hand snaking around between my legs to press against me while the other pinched my nipple. I saw one of Aro's visitors from when I first arrived ordering me to give him a lap dance, his hands fumbling from cupping my mound to reaching up between my legs from behind when I would turn my back to him, gyrating my hips over his crotch. Then it was Aro again, forcing me to ride him on my bed, pressing against my clit as he used his other hand to keep a crushing grip on my hips and keep me moving.

"Bella, it's okay," a voice echoed. I knew it was Edward, but he sounded so far away . . .

"It's all over, Bella. No one is going to touch you like that again, not without you wanting it," he continued, and clung to the sound. I pulled at his voice like a rope, using it to drag myself out of the abyss I fell into without realizing.

"I'm here, Bella. You're safe. Come back to me, love. Come back," he whispered into my ear. His cool, calm breath against my skin helped shove the memories away, giving me something else to cling to as I fought their hold. Hands were moving slowly, calmly, over my back, and I focused on them. The feel of his hands, the sweet smell of his breath, the sound of his voice, his hair against the side of my face, and his lips as they pressed gently against my neck . . . I gasped like I had been drowning when I finally managed to free myself from those nightmares, and Edward was still right in front of me, one of his hands now at the back of my head as he held my trembling form.

"Shh, Bella. It's okay now. It's all over. They can't hurt you anymore, not unless you let them. Don't let them have that power over you, Bella. Don't _choose_ to let them control you," he whispered, squeezing me a little tighter for a moment. I gripped his shirt in my hands, hearing the fabric rip as my fingers sliced through, and took deep, shaky breaths.

"That's it, Bella. Breathe, take back control. Push that anger, that terror, push it back and slam the door. You can do it, love," Edward said a little louder. I clenched my eyes tighter, still taking painfully deep breaths. I could feel them fighting me, fighting to break free of the hold I had them in. My grip was breaking as the images started leaking out again: a touch here, a scrape there . . . my will was breaking down.

"Edward," I gasped. "Edward, I'm trying. I'm . . . losing it. It's . . . slipping. I can't . . . stop them." He tensed, feeling my grip tighten even more as I continued fighting a losing battle.

"It's okay, Bella. Just don't stop fighting," he said tersely, fighting his own emotions. He started moving his hands, moving from the back of my head to my face, from my side to my stomach, wandering all over my body as he attempted to distract me from the images.

"Focus on me, Bella. Feel me," he growled, shifting so he was on his knees with me wrapped around him. I loosened and tightened my grip to let him know I heard, but I couldn't get my mouth to move anymore.

Edward kept whispering to me, repeating himself over and over as his hands travelled my body. He pressed a hand flat against my stomach as the other slipped down to my ass. The hand on my stomach drifted higher, settling between my breasts as the other moved down to my thigh. He felt my haggard breaths when his hand continued higher to the side of my neck, a thumb brushing over my bottom lip. A kiss placed to my neck . . . a hand cupping my breast . . . a palm against my mound . . . fingers playing with the hem of my shirt, wandering higher to free my breast from my bra . . . a brush over my nipple . . . a moan against the skin of my shoulder as he nosed my shirt aside, placing an open-mouthed kiss to my collar bone.

My breath hitched as he lightly bit me, his teeth applying just enough pressure to get my attention, but not to break the skin. I groaned when he freed my other breast, rolling and pinching my peak between his finger and thumb. My hips thrust forward as his other hand flicked the button of my pants open, sliding my zipper down and pressing against my nub through my underwear. I moaned into Edward's neck, letting my breath rush out against his skin as my own hand reached down to cup his arousal over his jeans.

"Make love to me, Edward," I gasped. "Please . . . make love to me. Make them go away." He froze, his hand palming my breast and the other still pressing against my clit. I pressed against his cock, bending my fingers to rake my nails over the material.

"Are you sure, Bella?" he gasped, moaning my name as he felt me scraping at him. I brought my mouth to his, my tongue diving in to brush against his. He moaned again, pressing my clit harder and making me see stars.

"Now, Edward, _please_," I breathed, fumbling his pants open.

He acquiesced without another word, standing on his knees and unwrapping my legs from around him just long enough to get my pants and underwear off. My legs snapped back around his waist, my pulsing hot center pressed against his trapped dick. He hissed at the feeling, shoving his own jeans down to his knees as I kissed and nipped at the side of his neck, right over his jugular. His arousal sprang free, brushing against my thigh, and I moaned louder. He lifted me up, positioning himself at my entrance, but hesitated.

"Are you sure, Bella?" he asked one last time, his eyes dark with lust. I nodded frantically, slamming my mouth to his as he slowly but gently lowered me down around him. I threw my head back and my mouth fell open at the feel of him inside me, of the feeling of being so utterly _complete_, even when he wasn't even fully sheathed in me . . . I was tight and slowly stretching around his thick length, and my body twitched as his tip met my maiden head. He inhaled sharply, but I kept my eyes closed and head back.

"They couldn't . . . take what wasn't . . . theirs to . . . have, love," I gasped, unable to breath normally with the ecstasy overwhelming me. I groaned as he continued lowering me down, the pressure on the thin barrier growing.

"God, I love you, Bella," Edward growled, and I brought a hand to his hair. I scraped his scalp from his forehead to the base of his skull as I pushed myself down on him, catching Edward off guard and causing his cock to break through my barrier.

A bright flash erupted before my eyes as I sat on Edward's lap, his length sheathed within my body all the way to his balls. I groaned as Edward cursed, my body flooding with a warmth like nothing I had ever felt. I could feel the humming I felt every time we touched stronger than ever, right down to my very soul. A separate warmth radiated from the left side of my chest, just under my collar bone, but I was too ecstatic to think about it. I could feel him shaking, but I couldn't get myself to ask if he was okay. I didn't have to, apparently, as he lifted me up by my hips just to lower me back down on him again.

I brought my head forward and kissed Edward's shoulder, grazing his rock-hard skin with my teeth as I felt the muscles in my abdomen slowly start to tighten. He lifted me again, almost completely pulling out, before gently letting me settle over him. I wasn't having that.

Moving my legs closer to me for better leverage, I stood up and slammed my body back onto him. He seemed to immediately get my point, thrusting up into me as I crashed back down on him over and over, moving closer and closer to coming.

"Bella, I can't—" Edward started, but he couldn't finish his sentence.

"Come with me, love," I gasped, holding his shoulder for support and cupping one of his balls in the other. I could feel him growing slightly larger inside of me at the contact, and he positioned his thumb against my clit, letting my own movements create friction against the small bundle of nerves.

"Now, Bella!" he roared, pinching my clit and causing my body to explode with the biggest climax I had ever felt. He spilled into me as his forehead pressed against mine, both of us frozen with our high.

My body trembled with exhaustion as Edward gently lowered me to the soft ground, our bodies never separating. His head rested on my chest, and I ran my fingers languidly through his hair as we caught our breath, a loud purr echoing from me.

"I've made a choice, too, Bella," he whispered, placing a kiss to my sternum, just above the v-neck of my shirt. "I didn't choose to love you either, but I am choosing to ask you to be my wife." I inhaled sharply, my hand freezing in his hair. I tried to process what he was saying, but my mind was sluggish from the physical and emotional stresses of the past few hours.

"You . . . you want to . . . what?" I asked incoherently. He smiled and chuckled, kissing my chin.

"I want to show you the love you should have gotten all along, and spend the rest of our lives making up for what we _both_ missed out on: the love of a mate. I want you to be my wife, Bella, if you will have me," he answered, staring down at me. I could see anxiety bubbling up as he waited for my answer, but it had nothing on the love in his eyes. Seeing that, I knew what my answer was before I even said it.

"Edward, you are my soul mate. I would be honored to be your wife," I whispered, happy tears falling down my face and back into my hair. Edward wiped the moisture away as he lowered his face to mine, kissing me softly and deeply.

"My wife, my life, my love," he murmured against my lips.

"I love you, too," I crooned, kissing his lips again. "I love you, too."


	29. Chapter 28 Mates

_***Rated M Content***_

_Mates_

I dozed for the rest of the night, resting on my _fiancé's_ chest. Edward had noticed my dozing and redressed us, moving me to his chest and wrapping his arms around me. I think I fell asleep once or twice, but I just couldn't seem to stay asleep. I shivered at one point when I had woken for a few minutes, but declined his offer to take me back to the house. I couldn't ruin the moment.

"Good morning, love," Edward whispered against my forehead when I yawned.

The morning sun was just rising up over the tops of the trees surrounding our little clearing. The air was brisk with the light frost that had settled over the ground, but Edward had draped his shirt over my bare arms to keep it off me. I had the fleeting thought that having sex in the middle of the woods in the middle of November just as it was getting dark, and then _staying_ there through the night, might not have been the brightest of ideas, but I was beyond caring. The constant hum in my chest from our contact was accompanied by my purr, and the warmth I felt from earlier hadn't lessened. Edward's hand was drifting lazily up and down my back as he kissed my forehead.

"Morning," I mumbled, fisting my eyes. He pressed his lips to my forehead before tucking a finger under my chin and lifting my face to his. He kissed me sweetly, caressing my lips with his. The tip of his tongue ran across my bottom lip and I opened my mouth to him, purring louder and moaning lightly with the feeling of his tongue sliding against mine. I had to break for air after a couple of minutes, and Edward took the time to just stare at me.

"Alice texted while you were asleep," he murmured, his forefinger travelling slowly from my temple along my jaw to my chin. The thumb of his opposite hand was running over my eyebrow, then under my eye. "We have four hours before Caleb wakes up, and Marcus is paying all of us a visit tomorrow. She didn't say why." I tensed at the Volturi brother's name, but Edward's hands kept moving. One was burying itself in my hair at the back of my head, and the other was running a thumb over my bottom lip. He seemed far away from me, his eyes looking at me, but . . . not.

"Edward, what are you doing?" I asked, tilting my head to the side in confusion. He blinked slowly, a happy smile growing on his face.

"I'm waiting for the reality of everything we just did to hit me. I know it happened, I know what we said, but . . . it feels like a dream," he answered—well, _dreamily_. I brought my hands to either side of his face, giving him a small, happy smile.

"Well, love, I can assure you it wasn't," I said, wiggling my hips against his. The movement told me I was a little sore, and the spark in his slightly dark eyes told me he remembered—vividly—what caused such a sweet soreness.

"You okay?" he asked with a half-smile. I nodded happily.

"Oh, yeah," I responded against his mouth.

His smile grew against my lips as I kissed him, and he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. He took it between his teeth, running them lightly along it as he pulled back before pressing against my mouth again, making me hold back a groan. His hands travelled up and down my sides a few times before brushing the sides of my breasts in his movements, his erection slowly growing between us. As the pressure increased against my stomach, a memory flashed to the front of my mind.

_Aro had just entered my room, waking me from my sleep. I had felt him coming, but my exhausted body had fought the alarm of approaching danger. By the time I had awoken enough to realize what was happening, he had already pulled me to the edge of the bed by my ankles. He leaned down over me, running his nose down the side of my neck as his hands moved up my sides to my breasts. His erection grew against me as his hands roamed to the front of my shirt, ripping it down the middle and clenching my breasts in his hands._

I forced the memory away, grabbing Edward's hands and bringing them to my face. I breathed deeply, trying to calm my racing heart, and focused solely on his scent surrounding me. His worry flooded our bond, driving me even harder to get control of myself. He was letting me be, giving me the chance to bring myself back by just being there for when I did, and my love for him effectively freed my mind from the assault of my past. I blinked rapidly, bringing myself back to the clearing, back to _Edward_, to see him smiling sadly, concern flooding his eyes.

"Are you alright, Bella?" he asked softly, moving his thumbs softly over my cheeks. I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. He let me be, his thumbs continuing their ministrations until my heart and breathing had calmed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I don't know why this is happening."

"You have been through a traumatic experience, Bella," he responded just as softly. "It would only make sense that you would have some kind of lasting effect. The reaction is completely normal, love."

"I feel so helpless . . . so _weak_, letting these things happen to me, Edward. I know what happened, and I know it was bad, but . . . he didn't get what he wanted. He thought he did, but he didn't." I was staring off into space, flashes of the first time Aro had raped me flashing before my eyes. I was still in control, watching them like someone watching a movie, detached and almost uncaring. "It's a defense mechanism for unmated females, for the rapist to get satisfaction he desires, but it's fake. They get the sensations without knowing they aren't actually doing what they think they are. We are still raped, but not to the level a human female would be. This fact doesn't change the experience," I explained monotonously.

"You are not weak by any stretch of the imagination, love," Edward said, his thumbs halting in their paths. "You have fought against what they did for so long physically, and now you are still able to fight, even though the ring is now your own mind. Look what you just did, Bella. You realized what was happening and fought it off without any help from me. Last night caught you off guard. You weren't expecting it, and that's the only reason you had trouble. But you still _fought_, Bella, and for that, you cannot be weak." He kissed my forehead lightly, pulling back to stare into my eyes.

I thought about what he said, knowing he was right, but unable to wrap my mind around it. Having to fight those memories was a weakness. Not being able to lock them away was a weakness. Knowing they could break loose at any time without warning, catching me in moments so intimate, they seemed corrupted . . . that was _weakness_. But he was right. He told me not to let them win, and knowing I had fought off my last attack on my own before it completely took over, I knew I wasn't weak. I knew I should believe Edward. So . . . I did.

"Thank you, Edward," I whispered, tears building in my eyes. This man's love for me was overwhelming, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

"You don't have to thank me for speaking the truth, Bella, but you're welcome." He kissed me again, keeping it innocent, and pulled back after a few moments. "Shall we return home? We have a visitor arriving later." I nodded.

"We have a son waiting for us, too," I answered, and he sighed.

"Our little boy," he mumbled with a thoughtful smile, thinking out loud. I nodded again, kissing him chastely before rolling off him. He sprang to his feet and offered me a hand, easily pulling me up and into his arms. I shifted back into a wolf and we took off for home, running side by side the whole way. It was much more enjoyable than flying above him.

"How do you feel about this power thing?" Edward asked after a minute. We hadn't exactly had time to bring up that topic, but I didn't mind. I also knew why he was asking.

_You are feeling guilty about making the decision to give me the power, aren't you?_ I asked mentally, and his silence was my answer. _I was incapable of making that decision myself then, Edward, and I'm happy with what you chose. This power will let us stay in one place longer, to live slightly more normal lives. Well, as normal as the mated lives of a shape-shifter and vegetarian vampire can get. Although . . . I do have to try it out_, I mused, showing Edward my idea. He laughed out loud, the loudest I had ever heard him, and I mentally smiled at the sound. It was the best thing I had heard, right next to Caleb calling us "mom" and "dad."

"That is brilliant, Bella. Now, we just have to think of a way to put that plan into action," he said, his gears instantly turning.

_With the way he is, I can't imagine it would be that hard_, I mused, and he chuckled, shaking his head. I charged behind him and jumped, shifting and wrapping my legs around his waist as he jumped in surprise. I threw one arm over his shoulder and the other under his arm, laying my head on his shoulder as he reached back to hold me up by my thighs. I pressed my mouth to his shoulder and sighed, letting my breath caress his skin. He shivered lightly and I smiled, keeping my lips against him.

"You will be the death of me, love. I can tell already," he mumbled, and I giggled, kissing the back of his neck. I rested my cheek against his shoulder and closed my eyes, falling into a light sleep for the half hour it took him to reach the house. Between the hum from our contact—which no longer went away if we weren't touching—and the rhythm of Edward's feet touching the ground, I was quickly lulled into a light doze. As soon as he started slowing down, my eyes fluttered open. I sighed, but it quickly turned into a yawn.

"Still tired, love?" Edward asked, squeezing my thighs lightly. I kissed the side of his neck.

"More like 'not awake yet'," I responded with another yawn. He walked through the line of trees around their house and stopped, letting me get down. His hand immediately landed on my opposite hip, his arm across my back, and I did the same to him, holding onto his belt loop. I leaned against him as we walked towards the house, and Emmett came running around from the front with my brothers close behind.

"Eddie! You'll never guess what Esme wants to put in the next house!" he boomed, stopping a few feet from us and pointing to where Renee, Charlie, Esme, and Carlisle were standing. Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie joined them, and Rose crossed her arms over her chest in anticipation.

"What, Emmett?" Edward asked, humoring him. He squeezed my hip to get my attention, telling me what he was hearing in Emmett's mind. I held back my smile and snuck my thumb under his shirt, moving it smoothly over his skin to let him know I understood. I found the spiritual string connecting me to Emmett, a soft green thread-like . . . thing, and debated how I was to shift anything about him. He continued his jabs at Edward while I tried applying the feeling I got while shifting my own body to Emmett through the bond.

"A _wood_ stove! She's gonna make the house _smokin' hot_ by burnin' _wood_! Good thing we've got _you_ now!" he laughed, grabbing his gut as if it hurt. And with a figurative snap of my fingers, his manhood shrunk to the size of a slightly large raisin. I moved my thumb over Edward's hip again, letting him know the deed was done.

"You might need to borrow some of what he's got, Emmett," I taunted with a smirk. "I have a feeling you might have just lost yours." I wiggled the fingers of my free hand at him while I leaned against Edward more, making my hand start wrapping around the front of his waist and running the tip of my index finger along the waistband of his jeans. I could feel his muscles moving under my finger as he fought for control of his own manhood and smiled to myself.

_Hang on, love_, I cooed to him mentally. _His torment, and yours, is almost over_.

Emmett gasped and turned slightly, pulling his pants out and looking down. He gasped louder and looked to me in horror, causing me to wink and give him an evil smirk. He looked down into his pants again, then turned to Rosalie.

"_Rosie!_" he cried. "Rosie, tell her to give him back!" She raised an eyebrow in question before appearing next to him, leaning forward to see what had him so upset. She actually stood there in shock for a moment before she collapsed on the ground in laughter.

"Rosie!" he cried again, pouting down at her. She completely ignored him, rolling on the ground.

"What?" Alice asked. "What's going—" She paused, apparently figuring out what had happened, and suddenly joined Rose in laughter.

"Oh . . . my . . . _God_!" she trilled, and it took them three whole minutes to calm down.

"Bella, that was fucking _brilliant_!" Rose cheered, getting up off the ground and hugging me. Both she and Alice gave me a high five before standing on either side of me, all of us crossing our arms over our chests. Edward stood behind me with his chin resting on top of my head and his arms wrapped around me from behind. I could feel him sporting the after-effects of my touch, but didn't think it was as uncomfortable as the one from in the woods. Before I helped him deal with that, though, I had to finish our little prank.

"So, Emmett, have you learned your lesson about teasing others about their sex lives?" I asked, and he nodded, cupping the now-empty void behind his zipper. "Are you sure?" He nodded quickly.

"Please give it back, Bells. I promise I'll leave Eddie alone about his new hobby," he whined, sneaking in one last jab.

"I have a feeling that's as much as you'll get out of him, love," Edward mumbled, kissing the back of my head. I sighed dramatically.

"Fine," I said, reversing my little prank. As soon as he felt his long lost friend return, he sighed loudly, pulling his pants out again to double check.

"Damn, Bells," he rumbled, finally looking up and releasing his pants. "Remind me not to mess with you again!"

"Damn straight," Edward mumbled into my hair with a smile on his face. I pointedly decided how long we had until Caleb woke up and saw Alice's eyes glaze for a fraction of a second before Edward told me her response. I looked up at him from his position behind me and he kissed my mouth upside down. I looked back at the others for a moment, but their devious smiles told me they all knew exactly what was about to happen.

"Just go already . . . freaking newly-mated and horny . . ." Jasper groaned, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I giggled and Edward chuckled, throwing me over his shoulder and running a good distance from the house for privacy. We only had a half hour before Caleb woke after my little almost-breakdown, the run home, and the prank on Emmett, so we had to be quick to be back before we woke up.

I found my back against a tree and Edward facing me from between my legs, my knees clinging to his hips. He held onto mine as he leaned forward to kiss the side of my neck, right over my jugular, and his erection pressed teasingly against my hot, wet center. I moaned rather loudly, and felt him grow between us at the sound. He hissed softly at the pressure, shifting slightly and causing a sweet friction at my core.

"Bella, I can't . . ." he growled out, diving back towards my neck. "I can't . . . I need . . . to be . . ." He snarled in frustration, unable to finish his sentence, but I knew what he wanted.

"Lay me down, Edward," I said in his ear, letting my mouth move against the shell as I fought a surfacing memory. I didn't even let myself get an idea of what the memory was before I was pushing it away, blowing in Edward's ear and focusing on his whole body trembling before he took a step back, quickly placing me on the ground.

"I don't . . . want to hurt you," he said through gritted teeth, "but I'm . . . I can't . . ." I took over for him, putting a hand to his chest and flipping him onto his back.

I sat on his stomach and he bent his knees behind me, giving me something to lean back on. I ran my hands up and down his chest, feeling his chest rumble in his aroused state. I started purring loudly as his hands clenched on my hips and his thumbs rubbed the points of my hip bones from under my shirt. I leaned forward and kissed Edward's lips, reaching back behind me to run my nails roughly over his erection. His tongue forced itself into my mouth in response, and he groaned loudly into my mouth. He pushed my shirt up and I lifted my arms, breaking us apart just long enough for him to yank the offending material over my head. His quickly joined it, and we rolled to remove our pants.

In seconds, I was back straddling Edward's stomach with his erection standing at attention just behind me. He laid there staring up at me, his hands roaming from my thighs to my hips and up my sides to cup my breasts. He was staring off to the right, and I looked down to see my newly completed rose. The flower itself was over my heart, and it was a deep red, almost like blood. The light green stem traveled from the bottom of the now fully bloomed bud half way down my breast, my original tattoos making a swirling, Celtic-looking background to it. Looking, down at Edward, I finally noticed the fox head sitting in the exact same spot. It was the same shade of red as my rose, and, looking closely at its eyes, I could see the brown/blue mix I commonly sported.

I threw my head back in complete pleasure as his thumbs rubbed my pert peaks, leaning back against his erection. Moving back slightly, I lined myself up with him before slowly moving forward, letting him sink inside me as my body adjusted to his presence. We both groaned and I let my head fall forward, staring into Edward's eyes as I lifted myself back up. His hands shot to my hips, helping me set a rhythm as he thrust up into me. I pushed back against his legs to change the angle, impaling myself on his cock as he pushed back, causing our bodies to slam together. I moaned as he moved within me, taking over as I let him move my hips with his. Reaching down between us just as the muscles in my lower abdomen started coiling, I wrapped my hands around his balls, squeezing in time with his thrusts. He growled at the sensation, moving one of his own between my legs and pressing against my clit.

My body started shaking with my approaching orgasm, and he pumped my hips against his faster. He rolled my nub between his fingers as I wrapped my fingers around his base, keeping my other hand around his balls. Turning my hand to line it up with his dick, I moved my hand down, feeling my fingers trying to slip in with his length. The increased size sent my head back again, feeling my body try to stretch farther. We both groaned, both of us increasing our ministrations as my muscles clenched even more. I swiveled my hips as he crashed into me once more, his thumb circling my nub and sending us both over the edge. His seed spilled into me as I gasped for breath, and I couldn't help but collapse against his chest.

Edward ran his hand through my hair, whispering nonsensical words of love in my ear. I sighed and kissed his chest, looking up at him from beneath my lashes. He had a look of pure ecstasy on his face, his eyes shining with love and adoration. I cupped his face in my hands and slowly brushed my lips against his, the touch only feather-light and fleeting. His phone chimed just as I was about to speak, but he ignored it.

"I guess we should try the 'let's go home' thing again, huh?" I asked, resting my elbow on his chest and propping my chin on my hand. He chuckled and nodded, leaning up to kiss my nose.

"Yeah, I suppose we should."


	30. Chapter 29 Family Time

_***Brief Rated M Content***_

_Family Time_

We returned to an angry Alice waiting on the porch steps, her hands on her hips. Her tapping foot let us know how close we cut it to the time Caleb was going to wake up, but she thankfully only glared as we walked past, our heads hung in shame. She mentioned something about us being "insatiable," and Edward winked at me, throwing me over his shoulder and running up the stairs. I could hear my parents talking quietly with Carlisle and Esme in one of the rooms we passed, and my brothers were playing some violent video game with Emmett while Rose flipped the pages of some type of reading material. Jasper walked casually by, giving us a knowing smile as he went to calm his little firecracker.

We had ten minutes before Caleb started waking up, so we jumped into the shower together to save time. That was the plan, at least. It turned into a massive grope-fest that led to orgasms I never thought we could keep silent, with Edward's fingers plunging into me repeatedly as I stroked and massaged his aching length. It took no time for us to come, and with another short clean-up/make-out session, we were out and dressed.

We laid down gently on either side of Caleb, trying not to wake him before he was ready, but I couldn't help but run my fingers through his little locks. His face was so serene as he slept, a little smile gracing his round features. His thumb was resting against his mouth, like he had been tempted to suck on it, and he was curled into a little ball. I could barely keep in my laugh when I looked at him, and I could see Edward doing the same: sometime after Esme put Caleb to bed, his tail had reappeared. Only his tail. It was peaking out the back of his little one-piece pajamas, the material dissipating around it. As soon as he got rid of his tail, the material would return just like it had been before the furry appendage appeared. It was like when I shifted with clothes on and they were still there when I shifted back. His white-tipped tail was wrapped around his body, and he was holding it in his arms, the fur underneath his cheek against the pillow. He apparently slipped partially back into his kit form, but I wasn't surprised. He had lived as one for eight weeks; he was most comfortable in that form. I devised a plan to get him comfortable with shifting, and mentally showed Edward. He had a puzzled look on his face ad tilted his head.

_Why are you asking me? I have no idea how any of this works. Is that how you would normally do it?_ he asked, and I shrugged.

_You're his father. You should have a say in decisions concerning your son_, I reasoned, reaching over Caleb to run my fingers through Edward's mop. He sighed at the contact, leaning into my hand. _And besides, it's not like there's an instruction manual. We do what we think is right, and we do it how we want to. My parents just kept changing forms in front of me, and I just started shifting into whatever I saw them as._ I shrugged again, giving him a few moments to think. He had his eyes closed, but I could tell from the crease in his brow that he was thinking through my plan, looking for ways to adjust or improve it. I heard Alice's approval through his mind, and he shook his head, lifting it from my hand and opening his honey eyes.

_I think it's a good idea, and not just because of the eavesdropper. Letting him see pictures of other animals and letting him choose for himself would allow him to pick what he feels he would be most comfortable shifting into, even if he doesn't consciously know he's doing it. Eventually, he'll just start shifting. Is that the long-range goal?_ he asked, and I nodded softly, looking down at Caleb's waking form.

_I don't want to force a form on him, especially if it is not something he doesn't want to be. I wouldn't leave my pup form for the longest time until I felt it was okay to shift into something else like I saw my parents doing. A fox was the first form I shifted into after I finally managed to change into my human form,_ I explained, and Edward nodded his understanding.

_Then that's what we'll do, love_, he said, his love and trust pouring from his mind into mine. I nodded again just as Caleb's heart rate increased and he rolled onto his back, stretching his arms and legs as far as he could. His tail unfurled itself, stretching along with the rest of him. He ended up right next to Edward, who gently rested a hand on Caleb's stomach as I took one of his fists into my hand, bringing it to my mouth to kiss gently.

"Wake up, little one," I cooed, my hair falling to the side and causing my scent to drift across his face with the minimal breeze it created. He blinked his eyes open, still half-asleep, and gave me a sleepy grinning yawn.

"Good morning, sleepy," Edward whispered, drawing Caleb's attention to him. He got the same face I did as another yawn took over. Caleb rubbed his eye with his free fist, and I let the other go so he could use it. I switched my grip to his foot, gently rubbing a finger across his instep and laughing as he broke out into giggles, trying to wiggle away from my hand.

_Mommy, stop!_ Caleb cried, even his mind filled with laughter. I kept up my tickling, moving to his sides, but stopped a few seconds later to let him catch his breath. Edward was chuckling next to him, placing a soft kiss to Caleb's forehead.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, and Caleb mentally focused on his stomach for a moment before nodding. I picked up his tail, putting a confused look on my face.

"Caleb, what's this?" I asked, waving it back and forth. His face lit up with a huge smile as he reached forward.

_Tail!_ he cried as I let go, grasping it in his hands and hugging it to his chest.

"You didn't bring it back, hun?" I asked, and he took a moment to think.

_No know. Go sleep no tail, wakes up with tail!_ he explained, his mind swiftly changing from confused to happy. I just shook my head and Edward chuckled again, leaning over to kiss the crease in between my brows.

"Alright, well, Grandma Esme and Grandma Renee have something they want you to try for breakfast, okay?" I asked, and he nodded, still focused on his tail. I rolled my eyes and stood, offering my hands to Caleb. He let go of his tail and took them, letting me pick him up as he hung and set him on his feet. His tail disappeared as he stood there, and I smiled to myself in pride.

"Do you want to try walking downstairs?" I asked, and he just gave me a toothy grin. He only had his front teeth, so it was damned adorable. Edward came over and took Caleb's other hand, and the three of us walked out of the room and down the hall as Caleb babbled nonsense.

Like a human child, he hadn't developed a full ability to use words just yet. His mind was the only advanced part of him, but he still needed to learn how to use the muscles in his face and mouth to form the sounds he wanted in order to make the words. With the way he was going on, though, I wasn't worried about that. I could already hear the fragments of words forming as he tried to talk, and knew he'd be talking in broken sentences long before a human child would.

"Why, hello, little one," Esme cooed as we walked in with a tottering Caleb. He was dramatically imitating Edward and me by moving one leg at a time, raising his legs ridiculously high with his knees straight, but they couldn't keep him up just yet. He was practically doing the can-can. We took most of his weight, leaving only enough to give him the feeling of walking without the accompanying collapse of his knees. He was too cute, looking down and watching in fascination as he stood flat footed on the threshold of the kitchen. He took a step forward and squealed as his foot touched the tile, lifting his legs completely off the ground and dangling between us.

"Co-od!" he cried, the "l" sound giving him trouble. All of us laughed as we walked to the island, setting Caleb on a stool with one of us on each side of him and Esme standing on the other side.

Edward propped his foot on the bottom of Caleb's stool, and I did the same so my ankle was draped over his. I needed the contact like I needed to breathe, no matter how brief, and my soft purring told everyone nearby just that. Edward seemed to feel the same, leaning forward and resting his arm over the back of Caleb's chair, grabbing my hand and threading his fingers through mine. He rested his other arm on the island and propped his head against his fist, his gaze travelling from me to Caleb and back again. His face showed utter contentment, and one look at Esme told me just how different this was from the Edward she had known for so long. She was smiling with tears flooding her eyes, but quickly busied herself by getting the cooled toddler oatmeal she had found while I was . . . away. He had eaten various fruits while he was still on a bottle, but was more than willing to try different things. I was just happy to know they hadn't tried the "You'll like this, just try it" thing with a lemon like my father had done to me . . .

Esme set the little bowl in front of him and offered him a small plastic spoon, which he took greedily into hi little meaty fist. I held the bowl in front of him with my free hand in an attempt to prevent him from wearing instead of eating the food, but it was in vain. Half of his first spoon-full smeared all over his face, and he just kept going. Edward soon took the spoon, cleaning the excess from Caleb's face before giving it back to start the process all over again.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Esme asked, leaning on her arms in front of us. I turned to her and shrugged.

"I have no idea. Marcus is coming tomorrow, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "I guess we'll probably just hand out here, then. Is my family still here?" She nodded again.

"They stopped back home for a little while to refresh themselves, but they got back while you were upstairs." My eyes shot open at the thought of what we had done, but Edward's thumb caressing the back of my hand relaxed me.

"Don't worry, love. We were done by the time they walked through the door," he chuckled, and I sighed.

"That doesn't mean we don't know, little sister," Josh said, coming into the kitchen and wrapping his arm around my neck. My face caught fire as he lightly rubbed the top of my head with his fist, and it only got hotter with my embarrassment when Joey joined in.

"We could smell that before we walked in. Mom was happy, but you should've seen dad's face," he mumbled, trying not to laugh. I groaned as both of them kissed my hair and walked to the fridge like we hadn't been talking about my sex life. Edward squeezed my hand gently, making me look at him before he leaned over and pressed his cool lips to my flaming forehead. Emmett came in just then, his voice booming over anything Edward had wanted to say.

"Hey, how's the new edition?" he said, clapping a hand on Edward's shoulder. Edward just rolled his eyes and shook his head, not bothering to respond.

"'Kay!" Caleb yelled, leaning his head back to look at Emmett upside down. I held in a snort of laughter as confusion flashed over Emmett's face for a moment. He laughed loudly as he gently ruffled Caleb's hair.

"That's good to hear, little man! Whatcha eatin'?" he asked. Caleb took the last spoonful of his oatmeal and offered it to Emmett with a shrug.

"Looks like oatmeal. Any good?" Caleb nodded enthusiastically, and I grabbed the spoon before the rest ended up on his face. He finished the last bit and Esme took the dishes, giving me a glare as I opened my mouth to protest.

"Go get him dressed, missy, and don't even think about stepping one foot in this kitchen!" she warned, pointing a dangerous finger at me. I just stood and scooped Caleb up, dragging Edward along with me as I walked upstairs.

We paused for a moment when Caleb saw my parents in their room talking, and Renee swiftly took him from me. We were pushed into the room as Renee continued on to our room with a smirk and a wink. I slowly turned back to Charlie, my mother's face worrying me over why we were in there, and I suddenly knew what was coming.

"Charlie, it's a little late for 'the talk'," I said, trying to get this over with. He just chuckled.

"That conversation has come and gone, Bells. He already asked for my blessing, and it would have been wrong of me not to give it after what I've seen between you two. He also knows he is dead the second he hurts you in any way. I just want to hear what your plans are for the wedding. Your mother doesn't care what you do as long as it's done, but I know that sister of yours is itching to get her hands on the two of you," he explained, pointing to Edward. Neither one of us had to ask who he was talking about, but we did finally realize how quiet the house was.

"You can thank Jasper for the relative silence," Charlie said, answering our unspoken question. "He seemed to know how she was going to get. The boy doesn't talk much, so I don't know how long you've got until they're back." Edward chuckled lightly.

"He's quiet until he gets used to you, then you can't shut him up." Charlie looked doubtful, but didn't comment.

"Have you discussed anything yet?" he asked, and Edward and I looked at each other before turning back to him and shaking our heads.

"I don't really want anything extravagant," I said, starting to think about it.

"Just something small to make it official," Edward added, and I nodded, taking his hand and squeezing it. "I need to find that engagement ring before we do anything, though," he continued, grabbing my left hand and caressing my ring finger with his thumb. I shook my head.

"The ring is just a symbol, Edward-"

"And one you should have had at the ready before she even made it back here," Alice's tinkling voice finished, cutting me off. Jasper was standing behind her, looking apologetic as he shrugged a shoulder. I just gave him a smile as Alice handed something small and black to Alice. "I swear, for a vampire, you can be very forgetful when you're not constantly brooding over things you can't change." She walked out shaking her head, and Jasper gave a small wave as he followed. Edward and I looked at each other, surprised at the brevity of that conversation.

"I expected that to be longer . . . and faster," Charlie mused, his hand rubbing his chin. All three of us started laughing with no idea why, but Edward quickly sobered when he looked at the small velvet covered box in his hand. He caught my eye and offered it to me anxiety all over his face. I took it hesitantly and lifted the lid with one hand, the other busy being held tightly in Edward's.

A gasp escaped me when I saw the ring. The small band was the same gold as Edward's eyes, simple, yet elegant. The dime-sized topaz stone was cradled in small, vine-like braces coming from the band, little leaves carved into the metal. As I took the ring from the box, the blue stone sparkled gloriously.

"Do you like it?" Edward asked hesitantly. "I can always get something else-" I cut him off with a finger over his mouth, staring into his eyes as I offered the ring to him. He looked confused as I dropped my finger from his lips, and I smiled.

"Do you want me to put it on myself, or will you do it?" I asked, and his face looked like it was going to break in half from his smile. Gently taking the ring from me, he grabbed my left hand and kissed my ring finger. His gaze never left my own as he slipped it into place, raising my hand to his mouth to kiss the ring.

"Before the two of you do something I would normally shoot the boy for, can we get back to the conversation at hand?" Charlie asked gruffly, turning his head to the side and looking away. I laughed as Edward chuckled, a hint of nervousness in the sound, and pecked Edward's mouth before turning back to Charlie.

"I really don't know anything more than that, dad. We haven't really had the chance to discuss it," I said with a shrug.

"We could help with that," a voice said from behind us. Alexander was leaning in the doorway with his hands in his front pockets and his legs crossed at the ankles, and Gregory was standing just behind him with a small smile on his face.

"What did you have in mind?" Edward asked, and a screech echoed through the house from the next floor up. Edward ignored it, knowing Alice wasn't approving of whatever they had come up with, and waved him on. Alex just shook his head.

"If all you are wanting is to make it official, Greg and I could just bless your mating in the name of the Mother. It is nothing extravagant, and we have done it before. It is not uncommon for our kind to do so, but it is your decision," he explained with a shrug, and I looked at Edward.

"Would you be okay with that, Edward?" I asked, and he gave me a half-smile. My knees almost gave out looking at it, but he managed to catch me without being too obvious.

"I am happy with whatever you want, Bella. I will warn you, though, that if we ever decide to renew our vows-"

"When," I interrupted, and it took him a second to realize what I meant.

"_When_ we renew our vows," he started again with an ecstatic smile on his face. "You know she will want to do things her way."

"And I will!" she yelled, making us laugh.

"I'm okay with that. I just want this first time to be all ours," I responded, wrapping my arms around his small waist. He returned my embrace, kissing my forehead.

"And that is what it will be," he said against my skin. I looked to Alex and Gregory with a thankful smile on my face, and Alex didn't even let me say the words.

"Do not think of thanking us, Isabella. It will be both an honor and a pleasure to bless your union to young Edward. Just tell us when and where, my dear." I looked at Edward and we both turned back to them.

"The meadow," we said simultaneously.

"After the meeting with Marcus tomorrow. It will give us something to look forward to," I finished, leaning my head back to look at Edward for confirmation. He kissed me upside down, a smile on his face.

"It's a date."


	31. Chapter 30 Broken Hearts

_Broken Hearts_

We spent the rest of the day outside in the sunshine. Caleb was all wrapped up in snow gear to keep him warm, and everyone but Edward and I were playing tag with him. Seeing Alex and Gregory, and even Carlisle, play a child's game with a toddler who could barely stay on his feet was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. They didn't fit the personalities I would have expected of originals, but they were as much children at heart as Emmett and my brothers. Watching them play, I could tell they were strategically tagging and getting tagged so that if Caleb took a step and teetered, someone was there to set him back on his feet without him knowing it. His laugh filled the air as I lounged with Edward on a blanket against the house with me half leaning on him. He had cleared a spot on the ground of the four inches of snow and set us up so we could watch their antics.

"My family hasn't had this much fun in a very long time," he mused, leaning his head down on mine. I sighed.

"Mine neither," I responded. "My parents and I had fun together, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the same without Josh and Joey." Josh tackled Joey to the ground at that moment, shoving his face into the snow as my dad scooped Caleb up on his back. From the look on Caleb's face, his energy was quickly fading from the excess clothing and the snow. Charlie stepped back from the action with Renee and Esme, watching from the sidelines as Caleb's grandmas took him from Charlie and coddled him. I sighed again and looked down at my ring, glistening in the dull November sunlight. Edward's hand lifted mine, turning it back and forth to make the stone shine more.

"This was my mother's engagement ring," he murmured against my head. I lifted my head to look at him, his gaze far away. They didn't look like painful memories, but he wasn't happy either, like he was reminiscing about something that upset him. He kissed me soundly, pulling away and turning my ring.

"Tell me, Edward," I whispered, turning so I was straddling his lap. He lifted his knees so I could rest against them, and I put my hands on his chest while his held my hips.

"I miss her," he whispered, his thumbs making circles on the tips of my hip bones. "My father was constantly working for as far back as I can remember, so I grew up with Elizabeth. She taught me to be a gentleman, to respect and value women like my life depended on it. I don't think she could have ever guessed just how right she was." He gave me a small smile and I kissed him briefly, moving my hands to either side of his neck. I moved my fingers in the hairs at the base of his neck, comforting him as he slipped into his past once more.

"When my dad caught the flu, he was in the hospital and dying within a day. My mother was right by his side until the second he died, even as she caught the illness herself. Then it was me at the side of the hospital bed. I had been there for my dad, but not as much as my mother. I slept in the chair beside her, ignoring the pain I felt every morning from the position. It wasn't as strong as the pain I felt watching my mother wither away before my eyes. I caught it two days after she did, and my exhaustion and the strain of everything that had been happening let it decimate my body. I was delusional and feverish within only a few hours of my first symptom arising, and I had no idea when my mother even passed away. She pleaded with Carlisle to save me in any way possible with her last dying breath. She gave me life, made me who I am, and I didn't even know when she died. Carlisle told me after I changed, but that's not the point. I wasn't there for her in her last few hours. She died and I wasn't there for her. I never got the chance to thank her . . ." he finished, his voice almost silent.

He had shown me everything as he spoke, from the first time his father coughed up blood as he walked through the front door to his mother sobbing over the corpse of her husband. I could smell the sanitizer in the air, hear the cries of the dying and grieving, taste the bitterness of fear and sickness, all from the point of view of a seventeen-year-old boy. The last thing I saw was his mother's exhausted face as he was wheeled in next to her, her emerald-green eyes watching him with such sadness and despair that I hoped he would look away just so I wouldn't have to see it. His memories grew hazy with sickness and hallucinations after that point, and I pulled out of them to see his eyes blank with emotion and drowning in venomous tears that would never fall.

"Edward, she loved you, and she knew how much she meant to you. From what you just showed me, I can guarantee that. You have no reason to feel guilty or upset about not being there for her, Edward, because you were. You were right next to her when she died, and she had your love to ease her pain," I whispered, kissing his forehead and bringing his head to my chest.

I wrapped my arms around his head, leaning my own against his as I soothingly ran my fingers through his hair. He pulled me flush against him, tightly wrapping his arms around my waist and clutching at my sides. His whole body trembled against and under me with his repressed emotions; he was trying to hold everything in. Keeping my head on top of his, I moved my hands to cup his face. My thumbs caressed the skin under his eyes as I felt for my shifting energy, focusing it on his eyes and letting a small smile grace my face as I felt moisture start falling over my skin. Edward gasped when his tears touched his skin, his body tensing in confusion. He tried to lean back and I let him, giving him a sad smile as I caressed his now wet cheeks with my thumbs. His confusion only lasted another second before he realized what I did. His eyes were still so haunted by his memories, and it scared me that they still affected him this way.

"Let it out, Edward. She wouldn't want you to bottle this up, and you know it. Grieve for her loss, my love, but don't dwell on what could have been done. Your mother only wanted her son to be happy, and you will honor her memory by letting this go," I said, running a hand through his hair again.

"I can't . . . Bella, this is all I have left of her. My clearest memories are from when I was admitted. Letting go of the pain I feel . . . it would be like letting her go for good. I can't do that," he sobbed, his voice cracking in the most heartbreaking ways. He was no longer the lonely, depressed hundred-year-old vampire I knew. I wasn't comforting the vampire; I was comforting the seventeen-year-old boy who lost his mother so early in his life, and felt he hadn't done enough to ease her passing, even as he fought the same disease himself.

"Love, please look at me," I crooned, and he slowly raised his face so I could see his eyes. The blank expanse of blackness still startled me, but I hid it from him. "Your mother's last wish was for you to live, to survive and live your life, no matter what that life entailed. You said so yourself. Carlisle gave you a new life, one where you could fulfill her wish, but you can't do that as long as you cling to the memories of what you wished you could have done or taken back. Do you really believe she would be happy to see you like this, broken because of things you couldn't control?" I paused, seeing guilt flash in his eyes before he closed them and looked down. I brought one of my hands to his chin, lifting his face back up and caressing his skin with my other hand.

"I can see you don't," I said with a small smile, his eyes opening slightly. He was still looking down, and, because of his hold on me still, I couldn't bend down to catch his gaze. "You know as well as I do that she would be upset that you are dwelling on the past, especially after so many years. You are doing her an injustice, Edward, and she doesn't deserve that. Your happiness is what was important to her, and you still have the good memories you had with your family, not just your last moments together. Be happy, if not for your sake, than for your mother's memory."

Tears were still steadily falling down his face, catching and reflecting the sunlight in their descent, but it was much slower. When I caught his gaze again, I gave him another small smile and got a half-hearted attempt in return. His eyes told me he was still thinking, but I was just happy to see a little something other than black nothingness. Instead of pressing him to speak, I just tucked his head under my chin and combed his mop with my fingers. He sighed as he looked out over my shoulder, the tension leaking from his body as we just sat. I closed my eyes as I listened to my own quiet purr, trying to relax and comfort him as much as possible, and took inventory of the now-empty yard behind me.

Everyone had gone into the woods a few miles away, giving us the time we needed to confront this obstacle and get through it. Carlisle was talking to my parents, Alex, and Gregory about everything Edward had told me from his own perspective, and Esme clung to his hand as she tried to focus on Caleb instead of the rough beginning her first son had as a human. I could feel her pain as she unconsciously listened, her eyes tearing up as Carlisle described the ill-fated family. My brothers were with Jasper, Emmett, Rose, and Alice, hearing the same story but more as a summary, as none of them had been there. Jasper explained how Edward always had repressed feelings of guilt and self-loathing, but Jasper had never been able to figure out where they stemmed from. Knowing what he did now, Jasper voiced his wish to help Edward free himself of those feelings, but knew he wasn't the one to do so. Guilt also built up about not being able to figure it out and help sooner, but Alice quickly reassured him that no one could have figured it out. Edward had never been one to spill his guts, preventing any possibility of helping him through his guilt over his mother's death.

I pulled myself back to Edward, who turned his head to bury his nose in my neck and inhaled deeply. His body trembled as he did so, but the tension spilled out of him as he exhaled against my skin. He finally stilled and pressed his cool lips to my neck before leaning back and loosening his grip on my waist. I gave him a smile as he leaned back against the side of the house and he returned it, bigger this time. My fingers drifted over his face, from his forehead across his brow and down his cheek before running along his lips. He pressed them against my fingers, taking my hand in his to hold it still.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered against my fingertips. I sighed softly, shaking my head.

"Do you really want to have that conversation?" I asked, raising a brow. He laughed and shook his head.

"Just felt like it needed to be said. I know we both have our demons that will pop up at some point, but we'll just have to take care of them as they come," he said, bringing my hand to my lap and taking the other in his free hand. He kissed my ring again, caressing the stone lightly with the pad of his thumb.

"Thank you, Bella," he said, looking up at me as his thumb continued to move.

"What for?" I asked. He smiled again, making my heart soar after the state he had been in not long ago.

"For getting me to talk, to let out some of what I've been holding in for ninety-something years. For making me see what I was doing compared to what I should be. For teaching me that letting go isn't the same as forgetting, something I should have already known. For just being there for me, loving me when I didn't feel I deserved it." He shrugged. "Everything, really. You've changed me into the person I should have been from the very beginning of my new life, and I will never be able to repay you for that. I love you with everything I was, am, and will ever be, Bella, and I can't wait to give you my name." He leaned his forehead against mine, his eyes lightening as he spoke. I smiled and briefly pressed my lips to his.

"I love you too, Edward, and you have done the same for me. You gave me my life back, gave me a reason to not just give up, and you made me a mother. And very soon, I will gratefully accept your name." I ran my thumbs over his eyes, forcing him to close them as I did so, and focused only a minute amount of power there, just enough to change the color. I kissed each of his eyelids lightly before leaning back. I kissed him again, on the lips, and his tongue snuck its way into my mouth.

Our frustration and tension released themselves in that battle for dominance, as our hands explored the body of the other, the touches gentle and slow and then rough and needy. I took Edward's bottom lip into my mouth, sucking and nipping at his flesh as he rolled us over, placing me on my back as he cradled me with his forearms. Scraping my nails through his hair, I moaned against his flesh as his arms moved and his hands traveled to the waistband of my jeans. He quickly popped the button and pushed the zipper down, and I did the same to his. My breath was coming in quickly bursts as the excitement and adrenaline coursed through me, and inhaling Edward's sweet, cool breath didn't help either.

I released my hold on his lip as he lifted my hips to pull my jeans and panties down, and I used my feet to hook his pants and push them away. He helped with his boxers when I groaned in frustration, the elastic fighting against me, and I immediately wrapped my legs around his waist. I roughly pulled his hair, trying to get his mouth back to mine, but he went to my neck instead. The tip of his dick pressed against my entrance, but no further. I dug my nails into his back as I tried to get him to come down into me and he acquiesced, slamming into me with one thrust. A loud moan escaped my mouth, and Edward nipped at the skin just above my collarbone. His fangs had descended, scraping my skin and breaking just the top layers, but the sensation combined with him beginning to move within me almost sent me over the edge. He pulled out and slammed into my core repeatedly, sucking at the small wounds he had made and making my head swim as small beads of blood were pulled from my body. He rolled my nipple between his fingers, pinching and pulling at the sensitive peak and making my lower abdomen coil tighter and tighter. I reached down between us with the hand that wasn't attached to his hair and placed my fingers so that my nails grazed the skin of his cock as he roughly moved in and out, and also dug my heels into his ass, forcing him to thrust even harder. I felt like I could feel his tip touching my stomach, and, with as big and long as Edward's wondrous cock was, I was inclined to believe it. Only seconds later, I moaned and Edward roared as we climaxed, his slightly cool seed spilling inside me as my core pulsed around him.

We both collapsed as we gasped for breath, even our hands still in the wake of our . . . well, fucking, really. Edward's head was resting over my heart as it finally started slowing to a healthier pace, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. I lifted my hand to his temple, softly running my fingers through his hair as he sighed against my skin.

"I would apologize for fucking you, but I wouldn't be sincere," he mumbled, his lips moving against my chest. I giggled in response.

"I wouldn't accept the apology anyway, so don't feel too bad. I don't really care how we are together as long as we are." He moaned in response before lifting his head slightly, looking out towards the forest.

"Alice wants to know if they can start heading back yet. Are we okay?" he asked without turning to me, and I nodded with a smile on my face.

"It's like you said. We'll face our problems as they come. Our first would be the pants thing right this moment," I answered, looking at the bunch of clothing around Edward's ankles and my pants laying just behind and to the side of him.

"Hmm . . . Yeah, that's first. I wouldn't want anyone else to see what's mine," he said with a smirk as he turned back to me, and I raised an eyebrow as his body tensed. He was looking into me thoughts, seeing the bright emerald green staring at me with a dumbfounded look. I could see his body lighten as his hands moved to his face, his fingers lightly tracing under his eyes. I saw everything he couldn't say in their depths and shrugged, not knowing what to say. He just kissed the rose over my heart and the two small scars he had just made over my collarbone.

"I should have known there was an ulterior motive to that," I glared, unable to keep the smile off my face and lighten the tension. He gasped in faux-offense.

"I would never mark you to keep others away!" he exclaimed, and I mimicked him, pointing to the scars as my response. "Okay, maybe I will." We both laughed as we redressed and made ourselves decent, instantly feeling the absence of the other as clothes came on. He laid down next to me and I rolled so I was half laying on him, curled into his side. He kissed my forehead and rested his head next to mine, which was on his pectoral, but sat up a few minutes later.

"What is it, love?" I asked, his arm around my back and my hand clutching the front of his shirt loosely. His face quickly turned into a scowl as he looked off into the tree line, his grip tightening.

"Someone is coming to speak to you," he answered, his eyes scanning the brush as he waited. Only seconds later, two brown eyes appeared, followed by a russet wolf head.

"It's Jake, Edward. Let me see what he wants," I explained, starting to get up. His grip tightened again as his gaze stayed locked with Jake's.

"I don't like it, Bella. His thoughts aren't calm," he responded weakly, like he knew it wasn't much of an argument. I put my hand to the side of his face and caressed his cheek.

"He won't hurt me, Edward, and you'll be right here if I need you," I crooned, trying to reassure him. He hesitated but released me, which caught me by surprise.

I stood and slowly walked the ten yards to where Jake was, shifting into my own wolf form half way to him. I stopped a few feet away, and I could see what Edward was talking about. His eyes showed constantly changing and moving thoughts, and his body language was stiff with anxiety or nerves. I couldn't tell for sure, and the shifter bond wasn't letting me see into him.

_Hello, Jake_, I said softly, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. I didn't want to take any chances with him being so crazed, so I laid down on my stomach to make myself seem smaller. His eyes kept darting to Edward, who was crouched and ready to spring at the first sign of danger. I let him into my mind, showing him what I was doing and why, and he hesitantly straightened his body. He sat down and raised his knees, propping his elbows on them, and Jake seemed to immediately calm, but only slightly.

_What . . . doing . . . Bella_? he struggled to think when he finally looked at me. I could see his wolf trying to break free of his control, but he was struggling to keep it in.

_I love him, Jake_, I answered, but didn't take my eyes from him. I didn't want any surprises. _He is my mate, and I love him_.

_No!_ he roared, stomping his foot and scraping deep gouges into the ground. I stayed still, trying to project calm. _No_ . . . he repeated, softer. I could hear the pain and fear in his voice, but didn't bring it up.

_Me . . . Bella_, he said, looking at me imploringly. I sighed and closed my eyes for a brief moment, having expected this as soon as I saw him.

_You and I both know we aren't mates, Jake_, I explained softly, keeping my face soft but not pitying. _You never imprinted on me like you would have, and you had plenty of chances for that to happen. I love you Jake, but I love you like my brother. You are family to me, but no more._ I scooted closer and he closed the gap, his face pained as he placed his mouth around my neck for a moment, expressing his dominance. He moved and roughly pressed his head into the fur of my neck, keening softly. I sat up, keeping my head under his, and licked him consolingly.

_Do not give up hope, my brother_, I whispered to him. _You will find her someday, I know it. She will be everything you ever could have imagined and more, but you cannot give up hope._ He nodded once, tensely, against me, and I stayed still until he moved away. I could feel his thoughts quieting as he finally managed to calm down, and he stepped back a minute or so later. I looked at him, watching for any sign he was going to get riled up again, but he seemed resigned.

_You will visit, won't you_? he asked, finally looking me in the eye. I was happy to see _him_ looking at me rather than his wolf.

_Yes, but we won't need to move right away, or even in a few years. I can change their appearance through my bond with them, Jake. I can use it to keep us here for decades if we wished it_. He seemed to brighten a little at this revelation, and stood abruptly.

_Then this isn't goodbye_, he said, and I shook my head.

_Not unless you want it to be, but I hope you don't. I don't want to lose my brother_. He bowed his head, ashamed at how he had shown up there, but I nudged his face.

_It's okay, Jake. I understand. I just need you to accept what is happening. Edward and I are getting married, and I will be spending the rest of my life with him, whatever that may be. You don't have to be happy with it, but I need to know I still have my brother_, I pleaded. He licked my head and nodded.

_You won't lose me, not until the day I die. Besides, who would beat the shit out of your blood boy if he fucks up?_ He asked, and my Jake was back. Reality finally hit me that, eventually, Jake and the rest of the pack would die, but that wasn't important at that moment. I knew I was immortal while he wasn't, but I had never really thought about it until that moment. He would find his mate and stop shifting so he could age with her, and he would die at some point in his life from old age. I made myself promise that I would watch out for his family after he was gone, for however long I possibly could. It was the least I could do for everything he did for me as we grew up. He lessened the pain of knowing my brothers were gone and no one could tell me if I would ever see them again. I could never thank him enough for that.

_You would have to fight his brothers and my own for that right_, I responded, sitting up straight. He shrugged, but didn't respond. He broke his silence a minute later.

_You really are happy, aren't you?_ he asked, but didn't give me time to answer. _I can see it. You are nothing like you were before you left. You always had this . . . hole that I could never reach. It wasn't from Josh and Joey, and I tried my hardest to close it, but I didn't know how. He has_. I nodded and he sighed, placing his head on top of mine in farewell before moving away.

_I will let you get back to him. You deserve to be happy, Bells._

_So do you. Just wait and it'll happen_, I said, tilting my head to the side. I changed back to human and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging his head to my chest. I leaned back and kissed his forehead before taking a few steps away.

_I want you to meet my son, Jake. You never know when he might need another uncle_. He nodded, giving me a wolfy grin, and ran off into the woods, a lonely but content howl echoing through the silence. As Edward came up from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, another howl sounded along with Jake's a long way off. I tensed and looked to Edward, who had a soft, happy smile on his face as he gazed after Jake. His family came up behind us, and I took Caleb from Esme, his head resting on my shoulder as he yawned.

"Everyone is getting a happy ending, it seems," he whispered in my ear, his chin on my shoulder. I just hummed contentedly, pressing the side of my face against his.


	32. Chapter 31 Surprise

_***Rated M Content***_

_Surprise_

I woke up on the morning of my wedding with my fiancé pressed against my back and my son curled into my front. Edward was laying behind me, completely still, breathing against the back of my neck. The cool breeze sent chills down my spine as I slowly woke up, and his lips pressing against my skin told me he knew. I stayed still so as not to wake Caleb, who looked like a bomb could go off and he wouldn't hear it, and hummed as his lips moved down to my shoulder.

"Good morning, beautiful," he whispered, and I carefully turned my head as far as I could. He leaned forward so he was hovering half over me and pressed his lips to mine. It was brief, but our current situation only allowed for as much. I stared into his eyes, unable to get used to the fact that they were green. I could feel his residual happiness as he saw himself in my mind and I smiled.

"A good morning indeed," I responded, pecking him again as he rested his head on his fist, propping himself up on the pillow. He rested his other hand on my stomach under my shirt, moving his thumb slowly over my skin. Warmth quickly grew there at his touch emanating from deep within my abdomen. A low purr began in my chest, causing Edward to move his hand from my stomach to my chest, his forearm between my breasts as he laid his head so his cheek was laying on mine.

"That is my favorite sound in the world," he whispered, his dark green eyes drifting closed. A soft smile appeared on my face as I reached behind me, my hand landing in his hair as the other gently rubbed Caleb's back.

"And that is mine," I responded, moving my fingers lightly over his lips before returning them to his hair. He sighed softly and kissed my neck, squeezing his free hand between my waist and the bed and resting it against my stomach. My skin warmed again as soon as his hand made contact, and he resumed caressing my stomach with his thumb. We laid there for a few more minutes before Caleb started to stir, bringing his arms above his head and stretching while he yawned. I lightly scratched his back as he woke up, smiling as he brought his fists to his eyes.

"Good morning, baby," I murmured, running my free hand through his hair. He gave me a toothy grin and stretched again, groaning until I poked his little gut and made him squeak.

_Mo-ning, mommy_, he responded, rubbing the spot I poked. He in turn poked Edward's hand.

_Mo-ning, daddy_, he said, and Edward leaned forward to place his chin on my shoulder. He was smiling happily as he looked down at Caleb.

"Morning, buddy," he answered, taking his hand from my purring chest and ruffling Caleb's bed head.

"Wha do 'day?" he asked, yawning again.

"Someone is coming to talk to all of us later, and daddy and I have something to show you," I answered, immediately feeling my tension and anxiety levels rise. I took a deep breath to calm myself and continued. "First, though, we need to get you in the bath and fed, okay?" He nodded once with a smile, and Edward kissed my neck again.

"I'll bathe him while you shower, then we'll switch. Sound good?" Edward asked, and I shrugged.

"Sure, it doesn't matter to me," I responded, turning my head to look at him. He kissed me soundly, both of our lips turning up into smiles as Caleb squealed. We broke apart to see him with his little hands over his eyes, lying completely still next to me. Edward and I shared a devious glance as he removed his arms from around me and I scooped Caleb up, turning so he was between us in my arms. We started kissing all over his face, making him burst into laughter as he used his hands to try to keep us away. When he was gasping for breath, we pulled away and just looked down at him. He had a look of pure bliss on his face when I gave him one last kiss and went into the bathroom.

I started the shower before I undressed, letting the water warm up before starting the bath and stepping under the spray. Edward came in with Caleb walking next to him and set Caleb in the tub. I quickly finished up, stepping out of the shower and slowly wrapping a towel around myself. I saw Edward peek and decided to torture him a little. Grabbing the hair brush from the counter, I leaned to the side so the towel draped on either side of my left thigh as I brushed through my knots. I heard him suppress a groan as he watched me through my own mind, unable to do anything with Caleb in the room, and I smirked.

"Okay, kid. Time to get out. Mom's going to get you dressed while I shower," Edward said as he lifted Caleb from the tub. I finished my hair as Edward wrapped a large towel around Caleb's small shoulders, gently steering his tottering steps towards me. I picked him up, rubbing my free hand over his back and neck to dry him as I walked us back into the bedroom.

Grabbing some clothes for Caleb, I set him on his feet and dried him quickly. When he was dressed, I sat him on the edge of the bed and he swung his feet back and forth as he babbled on about something or other, none of the words making enough sense for me to understand. I grabbed some things from my closet and dressed, unable to keep the smirk off my face as Edward stepped out of the bathroom, his towel hanging dangerously low on his hips. I could have licked the flesh from his body with how good he looked, especially with the water droplets glistening as the clung to his skin, but quickly looked away.

"Wha' 'o 'ader?" Caleb asked, tilting his head from his spot on the bed. I sat down next to him and smiled.

"I'm going to show you pictures of animals you can be. You know how mommy, grandpa Charlie, Grandma Renee, and your Uncles Josh and Joey can be animals?" I asked, trying to find the simplest way to explain what we were planning as I talked. He nodded enthusiastically, showing me all the animals he had seen us change into.

"Well, baby, you can be all of those, too. Daddy and I are going to show you more, and if you want, mommy can help you change into one or two you like. How does that sound?" He clapped manically while he giggled, nodding his head again.

"Yay! Aminaws, aminaws!" he yelled, trying to say "animals." Edward and I chuckled at the attempt as he bounced in place. I stood and we walked downstairs with Caleb between us again, trying to give him as much time on his feet as we could. He ate quickly in his excitement, and was impatient when he had to wait for me to finish my own.

"You finish, and I'll take our demon upstairs. Just come up when you're ready, love. Don't rush," Edward said, kissing my cheek as I nodded. Esme and Renee leaned on the opposite side of the counter while I finished my cereal, giving me small smirks. I couldn't take it after five straight minutes.

"What?" I asked sharply, raising an eyebrow. Their smiles only grew wider as they shook their heads simultaneously. I started getting uncomfortable under their gazes, and jumped as Alex hugged me from behind. He kissed the top of my head as Gregory replaced him behind me, doing the same except he didn't move away. I laid my free hand on his where they rested on my stomach.

"They are very happy for their children, young one," he whispered in my ear. I turned my head to look at him, his chin resting lightly on my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" I asked, and he gave me a small, shy smile.

"Look at their eyes and tell me you do not see what I do," he responded, and I did so. He was right. Both of them had a gleam in their eyes like they were the ones who had just found their mates and consummated their relationship instead of me. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes as he kissed the side of my head, walking over to join Alex at the fridge. Alice came in then and sat next to me as I finished, setting my spoon down. Esme took my bowl before I could protest, and I just sighed as she gave me a warning look, just like yesterday.

"He'll be here in about two hours, Bells," Alice said quietly, and I nodded once. "As far as I can see right now, everything is going to be fine. He's not here to threaten you or the rest of us, only to talk about some idea of his. He's blocking that from me, as well as the vamps coming with him. I don't know why, but I know for sure they aren't a threat." I nodded again and she hugged me tightly, pushing me from my stool and towards the stairs.

I walked into our room to find Edward sitting at the desk with my laptop open and a giggling Caleb in his lap. Walking up behind him and wrapping my arms around Edward's neck, I could see the "baby animal" search open on the screen. Caleb was pointing and clapping excitedly at some of the pictures, one of a puppy on his back with his tongue hanging out and another of a baby tiger riding on his mother's back. Those were only a few that caught his attention.

We stood there for quite a while as Caleb shifted by himself in Edward's lap. He didn't need my help changing into whatever caught his eye, and Edward caught him before he changed into something large, like the baby orca he liked so much. Caleb pouted, sticking his little lip out at us, but we promised to take him to the beach soon so he could try being a whale. He was temporarily appeased until he saw the elephant, forcing Edward to search "_small_ baby animals" instead. Once he saw the baby red fox, though, he settled into the form and his attention was lost. We only had another half hour or so before Marcus showed after Caleb decided he was going to stay a fox, so we just lounged on the bed with Caleb prancing around and showing us his favorite animals in his mind. Edward and I were lying on our sides facing each other with Caleb between us. We took turns giving names to the ones he was thinking about, and he made a happy yipping sound when we said them. All too soon, Alice was knocking lightly on the door.

"He'll be here in five minutes," she said, the calm tone of her voice surprising. Edward nodded to her and sat up, scooping Caleb into his arms as I walked to his side of the bed. We took our time going downstairs, reveling in the last peaceful moments before the unknown was upon us.

A knock sounded at the door as soon as our feet touched the bottom step, and I immediately tensed. Caleb squeezed my hand, feeling my anxiety, and was looking up at me with a worried look on his face. Edward quickly pulled us into the living room, where the rest of our family had settled, and Alex and Gregory vacated the loveseat when they saw my face. I was breathing faster and faster, and I could only imagine the look of suppressed anger and fear I was wearing. Edward sat me down next to him with Caleb in my lap, and pulled me tightly to his side. We were basically sharing a couch cushion, so Gregory silently took the other space and placed his hand comfortingly on my knee. Alex stood behind me, his hands lightly on my shoulders as Carlisle answered the door. Edward's arm was draped behind me around my waist, his thumb sneaking under the hem of my shirt to rub against my hip bone. The contact had my abdomen swirling with warmth again, and a minute amount of tension left my body. The rest of the family was spread around the room, mates with mates and my brothers leaning against the hearth.

"Marcus, how good to see you again, this time under better circumstances," Carlisle said from the foyer. He was being civil and polite, but I could hear a thrum of tension from Edward's normally stoic father.

"Ah, indeed. Our last meeting did not end as either of us could have expected," Marcus's deep voice responded, somewhat thoughtful. They kept talking in the hall, but my vision tunneled and my hearing turned to static.

Memories from every time I had heard Marcus's voice in Volterra flashed through my mine, from the meetings where Aro would have me leashed like a pet to the times where he displayed me to his new guests in the throne room and asked his brother questions about the times he had with me. Marcus had raped me numerous times, but nothing like either of his brothers did. To him, it was more like an obligation than a desire; his brothers took joy in torturing me for minutes to hours before raping me violently, causing even more injury as they did so. He was not the demon of my nightmares, but he was not innocent. Every moment I had been with or near him assaulted my mind at once, as well as the anger, hatred, and self-loathing, knocking the breath out of me.

"Bella," Edward said gently, his free hand caressing my cheek lovingly. I blinked, yanking myself out of my thoughts, and returned his gaze. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I managed, nodding once as Alex moved his hands soothingly over and through my hair.. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath and calm down before Carlisle brought him in, but only managed to do so slightly.

"Come in, my old friend. Everyone is waiting to hear what was so important as to have brought you half-way across the Earth," Carlisle said, and the door closed moments later.

"I'm sure they do. The last thing I desire is to disrupt your household with my presence, but the topic of my visit involves your family and the Swans too highly to leave any of you out of the final decision," he answered, rounding the corner into the living room with Carlisle. All of the hands on me tightened their grip, letting me know the ulterior motive for the comforting gestures; they were ready to restrain me if need be.

Marcus looked at me as I stared at him, almost physically fighting with the images and feelings that tried to take over at the sight of him: the anger at how I had been treated in Volterra, the self-loathing for not being able to do anything about it, the hatred for the brothers who kept me locked away like some kind of exotic sex toy, the physical and emotional pain each and every sexual encounter with them left me with, the feeling of being dehumanized and passed around like an inanimate object, my despondence when I dared to think of my future . . . All of these emotions and more took turns ripping at me as I stared down one of the men who caused them. When I registered the sadness, pity and regret on his face, Edward, Gregory, and Alexander really did have to restrain me.

"You _fucking bastard!_" I roared, fighting against every single hand trying to keep me in my seat. Edward's arm was holding my waist, Alex had my upper body, and Gregory was crouched in front of me, pressing me back into the love seat as he put a hand to Caleb's back, who happened to be clinging to my shirt. He was trying to comfort Caleb, whose terror I could feel just as strongly as my own emotions. My fingers had shifted into claws, and the rest of me was fighting to shift into a rather angry werewolf, and not the hairy wolf-like ones, but the wulfen. The ones that were half and half when they shifted and could walk on two legs if need be. My nails were biting into something, but I didn't take the time to find out what. I wasn't done yet.

"You do not deserve to be sad!" I screamed, still trying to break free. "You do not deserve to regret the things you did! I do not want your meaningless _pity_, you sick _fuck_! _You_ and your demented _brothers_ did things to me I would not wish upon my worst enemy, and you did them without thought or consideration, only for your immediate or prolonged gratification. The last thing I need is your _pity_, and the last thing I want is to see your face anywhere near me or my family for the rest of your days," I spat, trying to keep my jaw somewhat human so I could speak. Marcus only looked down at the floor, but I couldn't have that. I couldn't have him just take what I said without a reaction. I needed to keep going. I _needed him to react_.

"You are a sick bastard, Marcus Volturi, and you deserve the same fate your bastard brothers got. You don't deserve to rule over the vampires; all you did was follow orders like some lost puppy. Ironic how I was the one with the collar, but I was the one who at least attempted to fight," I sneered, my grip clenching tighter into whatever it was I had in my clutches. I heard a grunt from next to me, but I was too focused. I needed this. I wanted a fight. I _needed_ a fight.

"Aren't you going to say anything, you piece of shit?" I screamed, trying to egg him on, but he wouldn't take the bait. "Are you too chicken shit now that the bitch is off her leash? Too big of a coward to at least _try_ to defend yourself?" Tears were pouring down my face now, and my stomach was roiling with all of my emotions. When Marcus did finally speak, it was only one word.

"No."

I went into a frenzy at this, everyone in the room but Carlisle and Marcus running over and restraining me. I was clawing even deeper into my captive, who groaned in pain, but I was still trying desperately to free myself. I could imagine in my mind tearing his limbs from his body and burning them, leaving the rest of him to lay on the ground in agony for the rest of eternity. Unconsciously, I knew it wasn't solely Marcus I was mad at, but the whole shit storm I had run myself into the day we were captured. It was my fault everything had happened, and I had paid more than my fair share in punishment. Marcus's face suddenly changed as he looked at me, going from a look of complete despair to that of confusion and concern. I tried to be angry at those emotions, but I was suddenly hit with a wave of dizziness and calm like I had never felt in my life. It sent me to my knees and I started falling forward, unable to find the energy to control my body anymore. Gregory caught me as I fell into him and put me on my side, keeping his hands on my face as my vision repeatedly faded and returned. I could tell from the movement of his thumbs over my skin that he was agitated, more agitated than I had ever seen him. I felt excruciating pain in my back and abdomen, but had no means by which to find out what was happening to me.

"Jasper, did you do that?" Carlisle asked as he kneeled next to me and my vision faded to black again. I heard heavy breathing all around me, but no response. I assumed he nodded his answer, and was proven correct. "If not you, then who did?"

"I tried, but she had too many other emotions flying around, _immensely_ strong emotions, that I couldn't get mine to affect her at all.

"Carlisle," Marcus said, sounding like he was still across the room. "You need to make sure she doesn't go into another frenzy like that. She risks aborting if she gets that worked up again." All movement around me stopped, including the breathing. The only sound left was the sniffling of my little boy from right under my arm; he was still holding onto my shirt. I tried moving my arm to comfort him, but nothing would respond.

"Marcus, what do you mean?" Carlisle asked for the rest of us. I still couldn't see anything, but I listened closely to whatever bull shit explanation he was going to give.

"Carlisle, just smell the girl. You must have been around her too much recently to not notice, but it was almost immediately apparent to me as soon as I walked in. What I saw happen only moments ago confirmed my suspicions, but I assumed you had already known," he said, his voice still sounding concerned. Carlisle inhaled deeply and I waited, involuntarily patient, to see what he said. What came out of his mouth would have had me on the floor if I hadn't already been there.

"Bella . . . you're pregnant."


	33. Chapter 32 Marcus

_Marcus_

"I'm . . . I'm what?" I mumbled, staring Carlisle in the eyes as my vision returned. His face was an open book, confusion, amazement, and concern crossing his features over and over again. I couldn't move my gaze from his, but I wanted to look at Edward, to see what he heard. I could hear someone breathing painfully from just behind me, but I had no idea who it was.

"Bella, you're pregnant," Carlisle repeated, moving his gaze from mine to the person I heard breathing. The touch I felt to my back right after warmed my body, telling me it was Edward. I was confused for only a moment before everything pieced itself together and I was desperately trying to gain control of my body again.

"_Vulpecula_, calm. He is fine," Gregory whispered, kneeling next to me. My heart was still pounding as my breathing became more and more shallow, so he gently lifted me into a sitting position between his legs and turned us so I could see Edward.

He was on his knees, hunched over with his arms around himself, and the back of his shirt torn in five places. He was trying to cover the wounds on his back, but he couldn't reach them. I could see puncture holes in his flesh through the tears, and I whined loudly. I started crying again, this time in shame, but kept in my sobs as much as I could. He must have heard me because he raised his head and gave me a small but pain-filled smile.

"I'm fine, love," he said, trying to keep his voice level. He failed. His voice cracked as he called me "love," and I couldn't help the sob that escaped in response. Even as his wounds healed before my eyes, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how I had hurt him. I paid no attention to anything around me as I focused on my anger, and I had hurt Edward. His pain was because of me, and I didn't even stop to think about what I was doing. I knew I was hurting someone, but I was too wrapped up in my personal vendetta to care who. Edward had paid for that.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I mumbled repeatedly. Edward crawled over to me and Gregory handed me over to him, coaxing a quietly crying Caleb from my shirt. He had paid for what I did, too. My anger scared the shit out of my baby boy, and now he couldn't stop crying. I loved him and Edward more than my own life, and I had completely forgotten them because of my anger. Caleb would never look at me the same way again . . . He would always be afraid of me now . . .

"Bella, stop," Edward said, wincing as he continued to heal. I tried to shake my head, but I still didn't have control over my body.

"I . . . I can't," I cried against Edward's chest, the thoughts circulating over and over in my head. He put his hands on either side of my face and gently pulled me away from him, just enough to force me to look him in his green eyes.

"Bella, listen to me. None of those things are going to happen. Look at Caleb and tell me you truly think they will. Your emotions are all over the place with everything that has been happening to us. Just take a moment to breathe," he said softly, gently cupping my face. He inhaled slowly and deeply, then exhaled just as slowly. He did it again, and I tried to copy him. My body fought to keep its shallow, gasping rhythm, but as I continued to breathe with Edward, it eventually slowed and evened out, bringing my heart rate down with it. He gave me a small smile as he relaxed, bringing my face to his chest and hugging my head.

I felt something like a soft _click_ as I closed my eyes, relaxing my entire body against his, and I was suddenly able to move again. I wrapped my arms around his waist and lightly moved my hands over his back, delicately searching for the wounds I had seen. When my fingers found them, they were just closing up, sending a tidal wave of relief through me. I opened my eyes to find Caleb standing next to us and using Edward's sleeve to keep him from falling. He was staring at me with fear and anxiety in his eyes, but I immediately noticed what Edward must have seen . . . He wasn't scared _of_ me, but _for_ me . . .

"Come here, my baby," I whispered, raising my arms to him. He slowly walked over, trying not to fall, and grabbed my hands when he got close enough. With Edward's help, I pulled him to me and set him in my lap, wrapping my arms around him so he was snuggled into my chest.

"Mommy 'kay now?" he asked, looking up at me. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, baby, I'm fine." He looked at me intently for a few seconds, his gaze a steely blue before it suddenly changed to a light, happy green.

"Mommy gonna have mo' babies?" he asked, leaning back and looking between Edward and me. We looked to Marcus and Carlisle, still not understanding how he had known.

"I can see a faint glow coming from your midsection, Isabella. It is strongly connected to both you and Edward. Your scent is also a mix between the two of you, rather than your scent with his sporadically clinging to you. This only happens with a mated pair, and the glow is only ever present in a pregnant female," he explained, keeping his face stoic to prevent another outburst from me.

"She's about three days into it, but shifters are only pregnant for a month, so that is a significant amount of time. In a week, we should be able to tell how many she is having," Charlie added, bringing everyone's attention to him. "What were you last?"

"Wolf," I answered, unable to string a full sentence together as I looked back down at a beaming Caleb. Edward kissed the side of my head absentmindedly; he was also trying to wrap his head around this new information.

"So you'll probably have at least three," Renee mused, only adding to my disbelief, but she seemed to misinterpret our expressions. "You can always abort if you are not ready, Bella. It is nothing like the human process. You just shift into an un-pregnant state." I was shaking my head vehemently before she even finished.

"No! No, I would never do that. I'm just . . . just . . ." I stuttered, trying to find the correct word.

"Overwhelmed?" Edward supplied, and I nodded looking back at him for a moment.

"Exactly. I'm trying to . . . wrap my head around everything that's happening all at once." Edward kissed the side of my head.

"I know exactly how you feel, love. You do realize, though, what this means if you are three days into your pregnancy?" I raised an eyebrow in question, but quickly figured it out.

"Damn, Edward!" I gasped. "You should have warned me your little minions were going to work so well, especially the first time!" Everyone started laughing, but Edward wasn't ready to let the topic go just yet.

"Well, if I remember correctly, it could have been the second time. It was the same day, after all," he added, making me blush and smack his chest. He feigned hurt, his laughter and smile working against him. Of course, with a topic related to sex, Emmett just _had_ to put in his two cents.

"So, Eddie's libido _does_ function properly! I thought Bella was going to have to put the poor thing through therapy to get it going again! And how the hell do you shifter people not populate the entire world with how many kids you have at once? Seriously, triplets on the first go-around?" he rambled. I let the comment concerning Edward slide, as I would have been quite content giving him any and all of the physical therapy he needed, and even if he didn't. He question was actually valid, though, which was mildly surprising given the nature of our conversation and his normal response to it.

"Until the _unum genus_ evolved, we had nothing to stop us from doing just that," Alex explained, still standing behind the couch. I turned to look at him, and he gave me a quick smile before returning his attention to the vampires in the room.

"Since the . . . creation, if you will, of the other species now populating the planet, shifter procreation has changed. Those who become _unum genus_ by will and stop shifting completely take on the qualities of that specific animal. One who chooses to stay a wolf for the rest of his or her life will adopt the life span, instincts, and tendencies of a wolf. As such, they will also follow the same procreation habits, like the gestation period of roughly two months. This is the same for any other species, as well as humans. For shifters, this caused the ability to give birth to become restricted. No one knows why, but we know from the experience of others who have tried to have multiple pregnancies that the number of children born at once establishes the number of years before the female can become pregnant again. As for our little _vulpecula_, if she has three pups, she will not be able to become pregnant again until three years from the day she gives birth. It gives the parents time to raise their children before having more, but other than that, we can only speculate as to why this occurred," he finished with a shrug. Edward stood and sat us on the couch again, with both Caleb and me in his lap, and Gregory took his seat next to us. Alex sat on the arm next to him, and Gregory leaned into his side. Edward suddenly tensed under me, and I immediately looked into his mind to see what was happening.

"Someone is outside. He's kept his mind silent, but he's getting impatient with waiting for his cue . . . from Marcus." Edward's dark green eyes turned to Marcus, who nodded once in acknowledgement. "Your escort?"

"No," Marcus answered. "He is someone Isabella knew from her time in the castle, and believe me when I say you will be very happy to see him," he continued, looking at me with a hesitant smile. I highly doubted that, but was visibly trying to keep myself calm as he spoke directly to me about my time in Volterra. It was not a time I was willing to remember voluntarily.

"He wanted to come with me as soon as I told him what I wanted to discuss with you, and I could not deny him. I imagine he is about to destroy the front of your house in anticipation." Marcus turned to Carlisle, who turned to Alice, who nodded that everything was okay. Carlisle turned back to Marcus and gestured for him to call his companion, who didn't need to be told twice. The front door opened with a rush of wind, but the person seemed to stop and compose himself before walking around the corner and into the living room. Edward moved Caleb out of my way as I sprang from his lap and into the waiting arms of my savior and best friend.

Demetri smelled just as he always did, like crisp, fresh air and earth. His hair tickled my head as I buried my face into his chest and he leaned over me, hugging my head and shoulders tightly. I was whining rather loudly as I clung to the friend I thought I had lost forever, and he mumbled Italian nonsense to me while I cried fat, wet tears into his t-shirt. He let me cry for a few minutes, and petted my head as I finally quieted down.

"I have missed you, Bella," he whispered, gently pushing me back to look at my face. I smiled back, wiping my tears.

"Demetri, how the hell are you here right now?" I asked, unable to process anything else at that moment.

"We have Marcus to thank for my survival," he answered, looking at the man behind me. "The guards Aro sent with me on my last mission had already ripped me apart by the time he showed up, and he informed them that he was to finish me off. He wanted to punish me for my treason before ending my life. They left me to him, but, as you can see, he did not finish what he told Aro he would do."

"Aro was too preoccupied with you, Isabella, to check my memories for Demetri's death," Marcus explained quietly, still trying to keep me from lashing out at him again. I felt a stirring of guilt over my actions, but not enough to act on them. "I should actually thank you for that, even though the circumstances causing Aro's distraction were not ideal for you. I told him exactly what I told the guards, and he accepted it without further question."

"I felt you die, Demetri," I whispered, tears blurring my vision as I thought back to that immense pain. I would never forget it until the day I died. "How did I feel that if you were still alive?"

"I do not know, Bella," he said, squinting slightly as he thought. "I can only imagine that, between feeling my pain from being so severely injured and your emotional pain from my supposed death, your mind and body most likely tricked themselves into feeling a pain that was expected but not present." I just nodded, letting my head fall forward so my forehead lightly hit his chest.

"By the way, I believe congratulations are in order," he said, trying to lighten the mood. I just gave him a blank look, really starting to feel exhausted from my fit before and everything I was being hit with today. "You are pregnant and engaged, my dear. Remember?" Everyone chuckled at that as I shook my head, feeling Demetri steer me back to Edward. I plopped down on his lap with my chest to his back, and Caleb crawled up on me while Edward's arms snaked around my waist. He sat himself down on my thigh near my knee and stared at Demetri.

"I don't 'member you," he said, squinting suspiciously as he pointed at Demetri's face. His arm wasn't fully extended, making the scene that much funnier.

"This is mommy's friend, Demetri. You haven't met him yet, baby," I explained, running my hand over his wild hair. He slowly lowered his accusing finger and relaxed his face, surprising us all when he suddenly raised his hand again and waved, tilting his little fist from side to side.

"Hew-wow," he said, a cute little dimple-smile on his face. I watched as Demetri melted right into Caleb's hand with that small gesture.

"Oh, boy, Dee . . . You're in trouble if you're falling apart already!" I warned, and he shook himself, his tough-guy façade failing to slip back into place. Caleb leaned forward, putting his hands on my knee and kicking his feet back and forth as he sang "Dee dee" in different pitches and volumes. None of us could keep from laughing as he watched Caleb blow the Demetri the vampire world feared into a billion little pieces, leaving only a guy completely vulnerable to the antics of my year-old-looking toddler son. Demetri just shook his head and ruffled Caleb's hair, giving up the fight to hold onto some shred of his reputation as my little boy beamed at him.

"What's your name?" he asked Caleb, interrupting his song.

"Cay-eb!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air and losing his balance on my leg in the process. I caught and righted him, but he wiggled to get down. As soon as I put his feet on the floor, he was off and introducing every single person in the room.

"Daddy is here," he started, patting Edward's knee before going to Gregory. "Dis Gegowy and dat Awexandow. Day names wong," he complained in warning to Demetri, who just looked down at Caleb in amazement. Caleb gestured for Demetri to bend down and he obliged. Caleb leaned towards him, as if to tell him a secret, and whispered, "Day weal owd." Everyone tried not to burst into laughter, but his seriousness in explaining this was too cute. A few chuckles escaped around the room, but the two originals pretended like they never heard him. Their smiles told another story. Caleb moved on to Joey and Josh next, pointing to them in turn as he continued to make his way around the room.

"Unca Joey and Unca Josh. Day names easy. Dis Unca Emmie and Unca Jaspa' and Gamma and Gampa and anoder Gamma and anoder Gampa and Awice and Wosawie." He finished with a proud nod, looking around the room to make sure he didn't forget anyone, and found someone, running over to me. He pointed to my stomach and turned to Demetri, who had followed him back over to us.

"My brooders an' sis-ers is in mommy. Dey no have names yet," he explained, looking up at Demetri, who still wore his look of absolute amazement.

"Thank you for the introductions, Caleb," he said, making Caleb's smile grow even wider. Carlisle stood as Caleb climbed into my lap again, leaning against my stomach and chattering softly but excitedly to his brothers and sisters. Marcus was looking at Alex and Gregory with open curiosity.

"As you have just been told, _Aleksandr_ and _Grigori_ are . . . very old," he started, trying to hold in his laughter. He quickly got himself under control and continued.

"Marcus, I would like you to meet two of the original shifters. They are over one hundred and fifty thousand years old, and were kind enough to bring our Bella back to us when she decided to take some much-needed time by herself." Marcus nodded in greeting, and the gesture was returned.

"I have seen you before, but I cannot remember when . . ." Marcus muttered. Alex chuckled.

"Most likely many times in many places," he responded, and Marcus just shook his head in defeat.

"Well, I suppose the time has come to explain the purpose of my visit," he said, clasping his hands in front of him and looking at each of the faces in the room. "I have been reforming Volterra since the well-deserved deaths of my brothers, and have a proposition for your family." He looked directly at Carlisle, who nodded for him to go on.

"The red-eyed and gold-eyed vampires have been uncomfortable with each other since the day you began your campaign, Carlisle, and confrontational with both the Children of the Moon and the werewolves. And now, with the emergence of Miss Isabella's kind, the known world has been divided yet again. Our kind have become even more unsettled, Carlisle, and I wish to ease their minds." I raised an eyebrow, holding Caleb tighter as Edward squeezed me comfortingly.

"Be calm, my love. It's nothing bad," he whispered in my ear, kissing the side of my head. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I want to form a Volturi again, but this time with a member of each of the four beings, red-eyes, gold-eyes, shifters, and werewolves, as rulers, not just the red-eyes," he explained, looking at each of us in turn. We mulled over the idea before reacting, and I had to admit, with everything going on, it wasn't a bad idea. Something had to be done before wars broke out. It had been seven years since my family's capture, and we had been a well-kept secret between the brothers and the guard before Aro started giving me to his guests four years ago. He told them everything as he introduced me, and told them they could force me to answer any question they asked just by demanding it of me. I lost count of the number of vampires who knew about our existence, and they had been under no orders to keep me and my kind a secret.

"We do not want a repeat of the Southern Wars. It would be detrimental, not only to our kinds, but also the humans. To continue to keep our existence from them during something like that would be nearly impossible. Our last priority in that kind of fight would be to keep the humans oblivious," Carlisle thought, pacing slowly. I nodded absentmindedly, repeatedly running my fingers through Caleb's hair. He leaned back against me, starting to drift off to sleep, so I turned him around and laid his head on my chest.

"We do not, my friend," Marcus responded, looking at Caleb fondly. "I was hoping you, Carlisle, would be willing to represent the gold-eyes, but Eleazar thought these plans out with me and is willing if you will not. I have contacted a Child of the Moon I have known for many years named Colton, and he is willing, as well. My only concerns are the shifters and the werewolves. My first idea was you, Isabella, but I understand your reluctance to return to the castle in the near future. I do not have relations with the werewolves here to be able to ask, which is another reason for my imposing."

"You are right about me. I will not willingly step foot in that castle again, and if it is unwillingly, I will not remain among the living for very long afterward. I agree with what you are trying to do, but not enough to get me back there. At least not in the near future," I growled, giving him a not-so-subtle warning. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"I did not expect any different, and your feelings are no fault of your own. I share quite a large amount of blame, and the other major offenders have been disposed of. My only wish is that you will spread word of my plan to others like you in the hope that someone will want to contribute," he said, and I made no move to respond. I might have eventually, but Alex took away the need.

"We would gladly help you, Marcus. It would seem most appropriate, and we need something to entertain us. You know just as well as I that an endless life can be most dull after a while," he said wrapping his arm around Gregory's shoulder. Marcus chuckled lightly.

"An understatement to say the least," he responded.

"You might have a problem with the wolves," Charlie added, abruptly bringing us back on track. He was looking at the floor, his brow creased in thought.

"How so?" Marcus asked, tilting his head to the side with his eerie red eyes on Charlie.

"All of the members are almost completely immortal. We have certain ways we can be killed, but age is not one of them, with exceptions in our case. The werewolves do not have that luxury. Or curse, depending on your perspective. They will grow old and die without their ability to shift, which is only triggered by the presence of vampires. So, unless we can find a werewolf who would willingly live close to his or her natural enemy for the rest of eternity, we are going to have to deal with a . . . change of the guard, I guess, with them," Charlie explained, still thinking hard.

"And what about them imprinting?" I added. "If they imprint on a human, there is no way they will choose to stay with this . . . council, or whatever, instead of growing old and dying with their mate."

"Yes, that would be a problem," Marcus mused. "I believe a meeting with the wolves is needed to address these issues." All of us nodded in agreement.

"Hey," Emmett said, speaking up for the first time since his "overpopulation the world" question. "What are you going to call it? It's gotta have some kick-ass name!" Marcus, Alex, And Carlisle chuckled while the rest of us just shook our heads or rolled our eyes.

"What about the Council of Four?" Esme suggested. Gregory slowly shook his head.

"No . . . _In Consilium Unum_," he said, gazing around the room. "The Council of One."


	34. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

"MOM!" Caleb screamed from the living room. Edward and I were lying on our bed in post-coital bliss, redressed just in case of a moment like this.

It's been almost three months since I gave birth to five cubs, three little girls and two bouncy boys. Arcelia, Camille, Davina, Ethan, and Gavin were playing with the family downstairs. Edward and I had waited until the day before I gave birth to search for names; we had been able to hear them and see a little bit into their personalities to find ones that fit. In order, they meant treasure, perfect, beloved, strong, and white hawk. Gavin's name was the only animal because he would begin and end any sentence with an image of a pure white hawk. He either didn't know why or wouldn't tell us. When we asked, he would just tilt his head. They were only seven weeks old and would be starting to change in a few days, so Edward and I were trying to steal as much time for ourselves as possible.

I looked at my hand resting on Edward's chest and sighed softly, his mother's ring glinting in the afternoon sun. My wedding band was in front of it, but failed in comparison to the simple, delicate brilliance of that century-old ring. We had gotten married once everything was settled with the creation of the council. Jacob had actually offered to be the representative for the wolves. I mentioned everything we had questioned before we called them, but he assured us none of that would be a problem: he had found his mate, who was a werewolf herself. Lorraine was the wolf we heard respond to Jake the day he confronted me about my relationship with Edward, and they had been inseparable ever since.

We got up and made our way downstairs, Caleb standing at the bottom tapping his foot in impatience. Alice had dressed him in a little button up t-shirt and jeans, but I managed to convince her to save the designer labels for formal occasions. She had only acquiesced after I mentioned him ruining them while he played with his siblings, as they were still in fox form. He stubbornly refused to stay in human form without his fox tail for some reason, but Edward and I decided it was probably a comfort thing. We had no idea what he saw before we found him in the woods, and the events he saw and heard in Volterra probably scarred him, as well. Caleb was clutching his tail to his chest and glared at Arcelia, who was innocently sitting in front of Esme. Esme was on the couch with Carlisle, who had his hand over his eyes and was shaking his head back and forth.

Gavin and Ethan were wrestling in front of the fireplace, and Camille and Davina were watching from the loveseat. Davina was itching to join them, but settled for giving each of them pointers on how to beat the other. She was quickly becoming our tomboy, while Camille was the diva and Arcelia a mix of both. She wasn't afraid to get down and dirty, but only when she wasn't wearing anything she liked. Davina didn't care what she was wearing, and Camille couldn't be bothered unless she was pulled in unwillingly. She was a vengeful little girl when that happened, but her siblings never learned. Gavin was our loner for the most part, the strong, silent type who didn't even think in words very often, and Ethan was a chattering spitfire, just like his big brother. He was Caleb's shadow when he wasn't attacking one of the girls or Gavin. Gavin only played if someone else instigated the game, and his brothers never left him out of anything. Emmett thought of him as "Brooding Edward" come to life, but we quickly shut that down.  
>"What's up, Caleb?" I asked, picking him up and setting him on my hip. He stuck his bottom lip out and pointed at Arcelia, who acted like she didn't have any idea about what was going on.<p>

"Arcy bit my tail!" he cried, showing me a wet spot mid-way down his tail.

His speech was developing much faster than any of us expected; he was able to form complete but simple sentences, and his pronunciation was at the level of a five-year-old. I knew shifter children were supposed to mentally grow much faster than human children, but I hadn't realized how fast until I had him. Not only that, but he was able to walk by himself now, only two months since he had to keep a hold on either one of us or something he was walking by so he wouldn't fall. My newest kits were shifter-vampire hybrids, but, according to Charlie and Renee, who were living permanently in our old house with Josh and Joey, they were only slightly different than I was growing up. They were stronger, faster, and invincible, and we didn't dismiss the possibility of something else arising as they grew up. I kissed the spot on Caleb's tail and walked over to Arcelia, who tilted her head with that innocent "Yes, mommy?" look on her face.

"Arcy, did you bite your brother's tail?" I asked, squinting suspiciously at her. She shook her head, giving me my doe eyes that melted the male members of our family like butter. I kept looking at her, and her ears twitched like she was fighting to keep them forward. Another few seconds passed before they fell back and she dropped her head, not saying anything.

"Say you're sorry to Caleb and we'll go outside to play," I said, kneeling down to put Caleb on the floor in front of her. She crawled over on her belly and licked the spot she bit, mentally apologizing. Not even a second later, Caleb was eating out of her hands.

"Aww, it's okay, Arcy," he said, hugging her around the neck. And, true to her character, as soon as I told everyone we were going outside to play, she nipped his ear and ran out the back door as fast as she could. Caleb gasped and tore after her, using his size and wolf cub form to catch her easily. The rest of the crew followed, creating a roiling mass of fur and kicking legs in the middle of the lawn. Their energy almost made me glad we had to wait another five years before I could have any more.

Edward and I lagged behind, an arm wrapped around the waist of the other. I snuck my hand into his back pocket and squeezed his ass and he reciprocated, looking down at me from the corner of his eye with a sexy-as-sin smirk on his face. His gaze traveled from my face to the charm around my neck, the first and only piece of jewelry to adorn my neck since Aro's collar, which had disappeared permanently. The charm was the Cullen family crest in bright twenty-four karat gold on a medium-sized chain. That and the charm bracelet with the Swan crest and my favorite animal forms were wedding gifts from both sides of the marriage. Edward refused anything given to him, saying the only gift he needed was already wearing his mother's ring and about to make him the happiest vampire in existence. This, of course was followed by an inappropriate comment from Emmett concerning a certain part both of our anatomies and how many times said parts would meet within a single day, causing Edward's newfound happiness. Edward and I ignored the comment, silently agreeing as Esme, Renee, Rose, and Alice chastised him for his crude language in front of Caleb.

I had given gifts in return. Edward had clued me in on the family's silent acknowledgement of his eye color, as well as their unspoken desire to have their human eyes again. They knew it was me who had changed his, but felt they would look bad asking me to do the same for them. So, after they had graced me with gifts I wouldn't have so willingly accepted on any other day, I went to each of them and told them to close their eyes. Edward told me who had had what color, and, one by one, I touched their foreheads and shifted their eye color. Carlisle and Rose to blue, Esme, Jasper, and Emmett to brown, and Alice . . . Well, we didn't know, so I asked her what she wanted.

"_What are you doing?" Carlisle asked as I stopped in front of Alice._

"_What you want so badly but won't ask for," I responded. He didn't ask what I meant, and Edward let me see his mind sorting through what I could be talking about until he got to the only thing I could possibly help him with. He gasped at the realization, his eyes shooting open as he grabbed Esme by the shoulders. She opened her eyes in response, tearing up as she looked at Carlisle. Their reactions caused the others to look and they did the same, turning to their mates in awe. Alice looked disappointed when she saw her reflection in Jasper's eyes and turned to me for an answer._

"_You, miss Alice, are tricky," I said, glaring at her. She gave me a sad smile in return, but I wasn't done._

"_I have a suggestion, but it may make it harder to accessorize. Unless, of course, you have a preference?" I asked, but she shook her head with a shrug. I took that as a go-ahead and raised my hand to her forehead, her golden gaze changing to one of royal purple, the color of a psychic. As soon as I took my hand away, she turned to Jasper, who gasped and slowly raised his hands to her face_.

Needless to say, she kept the color and Alex nicknamed her Alexandria, after the genetic mutation Alexandria's genesis in humans that caused the same eye color. Ironically, she had many of the symptoms of this mutation: shimmering, pale skin; dark hair; lack of body hair growth; and perfect vision. She had the other symptoms, as well, but they stemmed from the whole "dead vampire" thing, like the lack of a menstrual cycle and a long life. She didn't care about any of that, and, surprisingly, didn't complain about clashing with her wardrobe. The rest of us guessed it was because it gave her a reason to get a whole new one, but we didn't want to ruin the moment.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Edward asked, looking at me curiously. We sat down on the lawn and I turned so I could lay my head in his lap. He moved my hair so he could touch it without disturbance, still waiting for me to answer.

"Everything," I responded dreamily, opening my mind so he could see for himself.

"You think too much," he chuckled, petting my hair as he watched the children play.

"Pot, tea kettle, Mr. Cullen," I sang, raising my left hand above me. He laughed again.

"Touché, Mrs. Cullen." He took my hand in his and kissed the rings there, both my engagement ring and the wedding band, sending my mind back to that fateful day.

Our wedding had been just as simple as we wanted, with Gregory and Alex officiating. We had a traditional shifter wedding, with only the asking of the Mother's blessing and a vigil until a sign of Her blessing was given. We hadn't had to wait at all, and got so much more than just a sign . . .

_All of us met in the Meadow at noon, when the sun was highest in the sky even though it was behind clouds. My family and Edwards, as well as Marcus and Demetri, made a large circle around the two of us, Alex and Gregory. I was in a simple white gown Alice had purchased without my consent, hence the seriously dipped neckline ending half-way into my cleavage with a small strap clipping the sides of the dress together so I didn't spill out and the slit running almost to my hip. Edward, the lucky bastard, was in a simple tux with a single red rose in his lapel, matching my bouquet. Once again, the flower was chosen by Alice. At first, I thought the rose was too common, but then I remembered the tattoo on Edward's chest from our blood mating and was perfectly okay with her choice._

_Before they started, the Quileute wolves came through the brush and trees, sitting down and creating another circle around ours. No one objected to their presence, and Alex started the ceremony. He put a rose in our hands, then had us clasp each other's so two roses were being held in our grips. Gregory approached with braided sage leaves and a thick rope vine, wrapping them around our hands to bind us together and expel any existing evils between us._

"Congregabo super nos lumen solis vires in terram petere benedictionem mater," _Alex started, raising his face to the sky as Gregory lowered his to the Earth._

"Benedicite, filii vestri in fortitudine animi et beatitudinem vite cetera," _Gregory finished quietly, taking Alex's hand in his. They moved so they were looking at us again, and we waited for the sign of the Mother's blessing. The words sounded so elegant coming from them that I didn't think to look for the meaning._

We gather together under the light of the sun and over the strength of the earth to ask for your blessing, Mother. Bless your children with strength, courage, and happiness for the rest of their lives, _Edward mentally translated for me as he squeezed my hands. I forgot I had left my mind open to him._

_All of a sudden, flowers began growing and blooming around the meadow, the colors varying from bright blood reds to deep, stormy purples. Everyone looked around as the appeared, mesmerized by the sight. I could hear Caleb giggling from his place in Esme's arms. Alice bent to pluck one of the blossoms, a yellow tulip, but paused with her hand cupping the delicate flower._

"_May I?" she asked, looking to Alex and Gregory. They nodded and she gently pulled the blossom from the ground, handing it to Caleb. He shoved his nose into it, leaving a thick coating of pollen behind when he pulled back and causing everyone to laugh. An unfamiliar laugh joined ours, somewhat quieter and controlled, causing all of us to turn and look behind Gregory and Alex._

_A white mist had appeared at the edge of the clearing, and as it began to take form, our surroundings faded and morphed into a place very familiar to me. My willow tree took form behind the Mother as she sat in bear form staring softly at us. The meadow disappeared, my sanctuary replacing it. I hadn't been back here since Volterra, not needing a place to hide with Edward and the others around._

_Everything had grown back since that time. The grass was long and green, the flowers were alive and blooming, and the sky was a bright, crisp blue without a single cloud to block the sun or the moon. My forms were running, jumping and soaring again, instead of slinking about like they were waiting for death to take them away. In short, my sanctuary was reflecting all the changes I felt in myself since my rescue. I looked at the man responsible, a serene smile on my face as I turned back to the Mother, who had walked forward until she was standing in front of our bound hands._

"_Welcome, my children and friends, to Isabella's sanctuary. I have brought you here so that I may speak to our bride and groom, and to show the Cullen family one of the mysteries of a shifter, as one of their members is now married to one." Edward and I inhaled sharply, not expecting Her to bless our bonding as quickly and easily as She apparently was. The Mother addressed my thoughts, as She was able to hear them in this place. The Cullens were frozen where they were standing, gazing around in wonder at their new surroundings, but looked to the Mother when She addressed them._

"_You did not need to ask for my blessing, young ones, but I am so very glad to give it to you. I could never reject a union that was so strong that it brought one of my children back to life." Her soft voice echoed in the air around us as she looked from me to Edward and back again._

"_I never would have expected you to recover as quickly as you did, Isabella, but it is a testament to the bond you share with Edward. He saw this place while he was recovering and knows how far gone everything was." She turned to him then, giving him a small bear smile. "I cannot thank you enough for saving one of my children. I know you did not plan for things to turn out the way they have, but you deserve thanks anyway." Edward didn't respond, only smiled and looked at me._

"_I have to agree," Demetri said quietly, surprising all of us by speaking. He was looking down at the ground, as though he didn't know if he should speak in Her presence, but She did nothing to discourage him from continuing. "When Felix first caught you and we brought you to . . . the brothers, you had a fire burning in you that I could actually see die with every day you spent there. It took almost no time for even the embers of that fire to disappear, and I physically hurt when I would notice. Every time I looked at you, an image of that feisty little spitfire I had met that first day would attack my mind, as though it were saying 'Look what you did to her,' or 'This is all your fault.' I did everything I could to keep you safe, but the only thing I could really do was follow orders; you would have been punished if I didn't. If Aro hadn't known about my concern for you, maybe it wouldn't have happened, but I would have been one of the ones making your life Hell. I regret doing what I had to to you, but I do not regret following orders to save you from harsher punishment." He paused and shook his head, Marcus's face a mask of self-hatred and regret as he listened next to Demetri._

"_After Edward got you out, I was recovering from the guard's attack. I hadn't seen you since, but when I saw you today, I could immediately see that fire again, burning as bright as ever. As I think of it now, it might be burning more. You look _alive_ again, Bella, and _nothing_ could make me happier." He looked like he could cry by the time he finished, and I really wanted to hug him, but my hands were still bound to Edward's. The Mother seemed to notice this and proceeded on with our ceremony, lifting her large paw and setting it over our hands. The vines and roses disappeared into our skin, leaving a tingling sensation that quickly spread throughout our bodies. She took Her paw away only a moment later and stepped back, roaring loudly into the sky as she and my sanctuary faded away, leaving us in the meadow again._

Marcus and Demetri had left as soon as the wolves had agreed to meet in Volterra and discuss the specifics of the Council, only the day after the wedding, and Demetri promised both me and the kids that he would visit all the time. I was happy to see him alive and well, but I was surprised he was so willing to stay with Marcus. I knew he was the fairest of the brothers, but Demetri hadn't seemed to like him any more than Aro or Caius as far as I knew. Maybe he was just trying to get the world back on its feet again . . .

"Bella, love, please stop," Edward whispered, running his hand through my hair. "You are going to stress yourself out trying to find the answers to everyone else's decisions." I smiled softly at him, and he kissed me briefly.

"I know, but I can't help but wonder," I responded. He just chuckled and shook his head.

"Why don't you just ask him the next time he's here?" he said, and I froze.

"Well . . ." I stuttered, not sure how to respond. "I guess I could, but where's the fun in that?" He shook his head again and rolled his eyes.

"You're lucky I love you as much as I do, Mrs. Cullen," he sighed.

"And why is that, Mr. Cullen?" I countered, putting a hand around his neck and gently pulling his face down to me. He gave me a cheeky smile.

"I don't know if I could handle you otherwise, my little vixen," he answered before pressing his lips to mine. I shoved my tongue into his mouth, catching him by surprise.

He jumped and I had to break away because I was laughing so hard. He growled lightly and attacked my sides with his hands, tickling the crap out of me as he said something about me being the death of him. I managed to get away, shifting into a fox as I ran and turning him into a mouse. I could feel his confusion as I turned around and ran back to Edward, who was sitting where I left him and trying to figure out what happened. I sat down and looked at him with a foxy grin on my face. He had one of slight fear, but it disappeared as soon as I changed him into a fox. He charged and we took off, running around the yard as the kids tried to keep up. I looked back at him and we suddenly changed direction, turning to go after the kids instead. They scattered with yelps of surprise, and we continued like that until they collapsed with exhaustion. Edward laid down next to me and I licked his cheek, staring at the lines on his chest that marked him as mine.

I thought back to how our journey had started, with my capture and his imminent death as a human. I never could have guessed that I would end up happily married to a century-old vampire with a seventeen-year-old body and have five vampire-shifter hybrid children with him, along with a full-shifter adopted son and an extended family of vegetarian vampires. If that didn't sound like something out of a fantasy novel, I had no idea what did. What I did know, though, was that I wouldn't change anything that happened to us. Nothing at all. This was only the beginning of forever, and I couldn't wait.

_The End_


End file.
